Only a culture change can end this state of climate inaction | Letters

Readers respond to a piece by George Monbiot about the despair felt by climate activists in the face of denial and intransigence George Monbiot writes movingly about his despair in the face of environmental inaction (Watching Don't Look Up made me see my whole life of campaigning flash before me, 4 January). It is possible to understand the strange lack of urgency by considering what George articulates elsewhere, namely that humanity is trapped in a consumer-capitalist system, whose effects are environmentally disastrous. The problem leading to pessimism is that changes to the fundamental belief systems of any culture must inevitably be very slow. The associated values are so taken for granted as the atmosphere of social existence, and shared as the basic assumptions of life, that it takes generations for cultures to change in their fundamentals.The disasters faced by the world, directly caused by our cultural values, are so serious and so imminent that change is needed immediately. However, change requires an alternative system of values to be adopted by humanity to create a new cultural context. Continue reading...