2025 is a record-breaking year for claims filed by fossil fuel and mining firms against democratic policies – marking a grim milestone in a surge of polluting industries seeking compensation for lost profits via a secretive tribunal. For @ftm.eu with contributions by ao @anilyilmaz.bsky.social

A 7% decline in English birds in just 5 years is astonishing The web of life is unravelling fast

Think the Tony Blair Institute looks sinister? You've not seen anything yet. Crucial investigation by @petergeoghegan.bsky.social and Democracy for Sale: democracyforsale.substack.com/p/inside-the...

On the blatant double standards the media - BBC included - deploys while showcasing Nigel Farage. He is constantly given a free pass not granted to other politicians. bylines.scot/news/the-far...

Brilliant and powerful column by @jonathan-watts.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/environment/...

I guess we should thank Donald Trump for making the relationship between fossil fuels and fascism explicit.

It's almost as if, before the Gaza famine was officially recognised, it was a story, as media organisations could generate controversy by hosting Israeli government spokespeople and our own rightwing blowhards, insisting it was all a fabrication. Now that it can no longer be denied ... no story.

A month ago, the famine in Gaza, deliberately created by the Israeli government, was officially confirmed by UN agencies. Since then, there has been an eerie silence in the media here, with far fewer reports than there were before. But it hasn't ended. On the contrary, it has intensified.

On LBC today, I discussed the government's announcement of a second runway at Gatwick Airport and its rumoured decision to allow new oil and gas extraction. Is this Trump’s doing, Shelagh Fogarty asked me? No, it's worse than that. youtu.be/rGI_bbSDh5o?...

This, it seems, is what the BBC had in mind when it drew up plans in March to alter “story selection” to win over Reform voters.

Apparently, it’s socially unacceptable to compare anyone or anything to Hitler. Mention Hitler, and you’ll be shouted down with a chorus of “Godwin’s Law”. Well sod that. Until we start comparing Trump to Hitler, we’re unprepared for what is barrelling towards us. 🧵1/4

We’re very happy to be name-checked alongside lots of pioneering new local news outlets by @georgemonbiot.bsky.social

George Monbiot endorses alternatives such as Zack Polanski, "As long as they give us hope that our country gets better for the people who live here"

Power is the rock on which truth founders. The mainstream media, with a few exceptions, is a single-issue lobby group, whose purpose is to assert the rights of capital. Here's what I've learnt about the industry in 40 years in journalism. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Here's the short speech I gave in Parliament Square on Wednesday. youtu.be/81Dnt2shYdc?...

Please, for God's sake, put aside petty differences and practice some solidarity. We desperately need coherent and effective alternatives.

Today's "nitrogen from shit is not really nitrogen" chimes with the farm lobby push for "methane from cows is not really methane". After climate denial, we now have also chemistry denial.

🍃NEW EPISODE: "We are a society of altruists governed by psychopaths." @georgemonbiot.bsky.social shatters an entrenched myth around human nature in less than 90 seconds. Listen to the full episode of It’s Bloody Complicated, out now, wherever you get your podcasts.

Oh look – it is the beginning of what @georgemonbiot.bsky.social calls an onanocracy – including one guy suing another for $15bn for pointing out he’s a pervert, but all friends in power really.

The brilliant @georgemonbiot.bsky.social at Stop Trump tears into this government. ‘By bringing the fascist in chief here, they dishonour us, and they dishonour themselves. By rolling out the red carpet for Trump, they roll out the red carpet for Farage.’

I'll be speaking at the Stop Trump demo in Parliament Square today. A fascist autocratic clearly itching to declare martial law is not welcome here. share.google/sWEe8YGl3euj...

As for biodiversity, a brand new study also confirms what's well established: overall ruminant meat, especially from grazing animals (which require more land, entailing more carbon & biodiversity opportunity costs) has the biggest 'extinction footprint' of all foods: www.nature.com/articles/s43...

The debunking has been done by many large studies, including this one from 2018, with findings confirmed by others since: www.youtube.com/watch?v=nub7...

The most widely accepted criteria of regen farming are about climate change, together with soil heath: an increase in soil organic carbon (thus CO2 sequestration). The trouble is that they've been debunked, for cattle grazing, as an overall strategy. takeextinctionoffyourplate.com/regenerative...

Do please join a stellar cast tonight for our live Climate Assembly, online and in person. www.theguardian.com/guardian-liv...

🎙️NEW EPISODE: The eloquent and inspiring @georgemonbiot.bsky.social joins us to share his wisdom on how progressives can shape the next decade. For starters: ever heard of Public Luxury?

There. Is. No. Such. Thing. Cattle ranching is among the most destructive of all the world's industries. "Regenerative" cattle ranching is simply greenwash.

Another Toxic Town scandal, crying out for action. www.endsreport.com/article/1932...

This is exciting. I was expecting to add maybe 4 or 5 titles to my list. But there are loads (see responses). We're seeing a renaissance of proper local journalism, not among the big companies, which mostly remain dire, but among independent publications founded by local people. Hope lies here ⬇️

Do please have a listen. Compass gets to the heart of things.

🔴 NEW - Why you should leave X Here’s the sad truth: Twitter no longer exists. X is something else entirely. It’s a megaphone for extremism, controlled by a deranged oligarch. 📝 latest Substack 👇🏻

There are passionate views on the GWP*. I have been rereading IPCC & the GWP* indicates "greater climate benefits from rapid & sustained methane reductions over the next few decades than if such reductions are weighted by GWP100". If you want CH4 to go down, you want GWP*. But... 1/

Advice please: what are the new local journalism outlets sticking it to power? I'm thinking of publications like the Bristol Cable, Inside Croydon and West Country Voices. Which others should be on the list? Thanks.

Why is is so hard for people to say these words?: Lough Neagh, the UK's biggest lake, is being killed by *livestock farms*.

I know I'll take flak for this, but the principle - if not the execution - is sound. Modular reactors can enable the decarbonisation of parts of the economy that are otherwise hard to reach. But tying their development to the US? That's less sound. www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Far right organisers in this country consistently side with foreign billionaires over our democratic institutions. They are not patriots. They are quislings.

Schwarzman has done this before archive.is/vY69Q "Code enforcers in Palm Beach have been cracking down on violators of watering restrictions. Since April 1, the town has issued 283 written warnings and 116 citations ... Among those warned were Stephen Schwarzman, co-founder of the Blackstone Group"

The irony of @ox.ac.uk starting a "Centre for Democratic Resilience", whilst receiving donations and naming a building after a billionaire who backs Trump, and is now literally a drain on society. www.ox.ac.uk/news/2025-02...

An excellent example of the environmental cost of billionaires. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

I just love this very British "no need to act until it's too late" approach. We seem to take the same attitude towards climate breakdown.

At what point do Labour MPs decide to rescue their party - and their seats - by evicting Starmer and Reeves? When voting intention figures fall to 19%? 15%? 10%? (Last week they stood at 21%, and have prob fallen since) The longer they leave it, the harder and less plausible the recovery will be.

A massive, dangerous and disgusting scandal, of which far too few people are yet aware. At @fightingdirty.bsky.social we'll keep pushing to stop it. Congrats to @rachelsalvidge.bsky.social for continuing to shine the light: www.theguardian.com/environment/...

"Predictions" of civil war in the US are attempts to foment it.

A very disturbing thing I missed in researching this week's column. Three of the four junktank ultras hired by Labour to groom civil servants are named in this investigation of a Westminster network involving the disgraced eugenicist Andrew Sabisky. investigations.hopenothate.org.uk/andrew-sabis...

Peter Mandelson’s life purpose is groveling to the ultra-rich. Twice he went too far even for Tony Blair’s government, and was obliged to resign. To Keir Starmer, looking to define his premiership against every traditional Labour value, it seems that this made him just the man for the job.

The same Sam Bowman and Ben Southwood mentioned in HOPE not hate's race science investigation I assume

We have struggled to explain the Starmer government. But I think the explanation comes down to two simple forces: 1. A visceral, obsessive hatred of the Labour left. Any progressive policy, however necessary and popular, looks to the inner circle like a dangerous concession to the left. 🧵1/2

Most of the people & organisations cited by @georgemonbiot.bsky.social have been active in the #YimbyLobby, trying to persuade both the previous & present governments to degrade or destroy the #planning system. Developers love them.

Astonishingly, I've discovered, the Tufton Street junktanks that shaped Liz Truss's agenda are still operating at the heart of government. Remind me what we voted for again ... This week's column. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

A nation awash with guns comes to be ruled by them. Isn't that obvious to everyone except the NRA and the gun nuts for whom it speaks? Now, I fear, the shooting will only escalate.