George Joshua Richard Monbiot (/ˈmɒnbioʊ/ MON-bee-oh; born 27 January 1963) is a British journalist, author, and environmental and political activist.

He then began a career in investigative journalism, publishing his first book Poisoned Arrows in 1989 about human rights issues in West Papua.

[6][2] His mother, Rosalie (daughter of Gresham Cooke MP) was a Conservative councillor and former leader of South Oxfordshire District Council.

[13] Monbiot has stated that his "political awakening" was prompted by reading Bettina Ehrlich's book, Paolo and Panetto, while at his prep school[14][15] and that he regretted attending Oxford.

He transferred to the BBC's World Service, where he worked briefly as a current affairs producer and presenter, before leaving to research and write his first book.

[21] He came back to work in Britain after being pronounced clinically dead in Lodwar General Hospital in north-western Kenya, having contracted cerebral malaria.

[22] He joined the British roads protest movement and was often called to give press interviews; as a result he was denounced as a "media tart"[23] by groups such as Green Anarchist and Class War.

He claims he was brutally beaten and attacked by security guards, who allegedly drove a metal spike through his foot, smashing the middle metatarsal bone.

[24] Sir Crispin Tickell, a former United Nations diplomat, who was then Warden at Green College, Oxford, made the young protester a Visiting Fellow.

[30][31] Folk Radio described it as "an enthralling album" where "Each song is a short, eloquent and thought provoking essay on the destruction of our humanity and how it can be regained".

[37] While describing the film Don't Look Up in early 2022, Monbiot explained how difficult it is to campaign for the preservation of Earth in the face of what he sees as overwhelming inaction.

It would radically shift the balance of power, forcing anyone contemplating large-scale vandalism to ask themselves: ‘Will I end up in the international criminal court for this?’ It could make the difference between a habitable and an uninhabitable planet.”[42][43][44] To reduce his personal impact on the environment, he has transitioned to a vegan lifestyle and encourages others to do the same.

[46] Monbiot made an unsuccessful attempt to carry out a citizen's arrest of John Bolton, a former US ambassador to the United Nations, when the latter attended the Hay Festival to give a talk on international relations in May 2008.

[48] He resigned from the group the following February when Respect failed to reach agreement with the Green Party not to stand candidates in the same constituencies in the forthcoming 2004 European Parliament election.

[49] In an interview with the British political blog Third Estate in September 2009, Monbiot expressed his support for the policies of Plaid Cymru, saying "I have finally found the party that I feel very comfortable with.

[51] Prior to the May 2015 UK general election, he was one of several public figures who endorsed the parliamentary candidacy of the Green Party's Caroline Lucas.

[65] Subsequently, he has harshly condemned the anti-nuclear movement, writing that it "has misled the world about the impacts of radiation on human health ... made [claims] ungrounded in science, unsupportable when challenged and wildly wrong."

He singled out Helen Caldicott for, he wrote, making unsourced and inaccurate claims, dismissing contrary evidence as part of a cover-up, and overstating the death toll from the Chernobyl disaster by a factor of more than 140.

similar comments by James Hansen) Monbiot's first book was Poisoned Arrows (1989), concerning the partially World Bank-funded transmigration program on the peoples and tribes of West Papua.

[72] The Invisible Doctrine: The Secret History of Neoliberalism (& How It Came to Control Your Life), published in 2024, was coauthored by Monbiot and Peter Hutchison, an American filmmaker.

[citation needed] Monbiot's weekly column for The Guardian has covered a variety of issues, concentrating on political philosophy in relation to ecological and social problems, particularly in the United Kingdom.