George Monbiot

Name ID 1408

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1994 Publishes: Monbiot, George The Scattering of the Dead


Extract ID: 3716

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1994 Publishes: Monboit, George No Man's Land, An Investigative Journey through Kenya and Tanzania

An Investigative Journey through Kenya and . . .

An Investigative Journey through Kenya and Tanzania.

An alternative view of the impact of corrupt government, modern agriculture, tourism, and 'Leakey's cattle' on the nomadic peoples of Kenya and Tanzania

Extract ID: 621

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2002 Publishes: Monbiot, George Planet of the Fakes


Extract ID: 3713

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Guardian (UK)
Extract Author: David Attenborough
Page Number: letters page
Extract Date: December 19, 2002

Attenborough defends his views of life on earth

George Monbiot accuses me of propagating fakes on the grounds that every natural history programme I make is not about ecological politics and conservation (Planet of the fakes, December 17).

There is a science called zoology. People study it at universities because they are deeply interested in the nature of other animals, the way they live and the processes of evolution that have brought them into existence. The present BBC 1 series, The Life of Mammals, is I hope catering for the same interest among viewers.

The last series for which I was responsible, The State of the Planet, assessed the present ecological crisis. The final programme in the Mammals series, which deals with the great apes, examines among other things how it is that one of them, mankind, has come to dominate the earth. But to suggest that every natural history programme should be devoted to this aspect of the natural world, or indeed must always make reference to it, is like suggesting that human beings are only interesting or worthy of television documentaries if they are sick and injured.

David Attenborough

London

Extract ID: 3718

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Guardian (UK)
Extract Author: Mike Sansom
Page Number: letters page
Extract Date: December 19, 2002

re: Planet of the Fakes

" The uncritical relationship between conservation and the wildlife media has a tragic impact on subsistence and traditional communities. Conservation that excludes people from their environment smacks of colonialism. Some estimate that over 1 million people have been displaced as a consequence of conservation in Africa. The relationship between humans and their ecosystems has been key to the maintenance of the environment. The Maasai for example are semi-nomadic livestock keepers who live harmoniously with wildlife, including elephants that break down the bush increasing grazing to other animals and cattle.

Conservationists and the wildlife media must explain this critical relationship and stop ignoring the thousands of people pushed off their lands and into poverty.

Mike Sansom

Coordinator, African Initiatives

Extract ID: 3719

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Guardian (UK)
Extract Author: Clive Hambler
Page Number: letters page
Extract Date: December 19, 2002

re: Planet of the Fakes

" Many of George Monbiot's own beliefs owe more to myth than to fact. He believes traditional grazing does not damage wildlife, yet up-to-date science shows that it does. He is also wrong to think that inhabited tropical ecosystems are "very much like" those where the western television viewers live. Tropical systems contain far more species within narrow geographical ranges and these are at higher risk of extinction. Meanwhile, the human population is declining in several western countries.

The history of Africa shows that some pastoral tribes themselves have not been averse to what Monbiot would emotively call "ethnic cleansing" of the previous inhabitants, and all pastoralism is recent in the timescales over which the wildlife has evolved. Monbiot's myths, if perpetuated, will leave everybody with an impoverished - and perhaps more unstable - world.

Clive Hambler

Oxford

Extract ID: 3720
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