As an investigative journalist and self-described "professional troublemaker," George Monbiot uncovers the complicated truths behind the world's most persistent problems.

Why you should listen

As a young man, George Monbiot spent six years working as an investigative journalist in West Papua, Brazil and East Africa, during which time he was shot at, shipwrecked, beaten up, stung into a poisoned coma by hornets, became lost for days in a rainforest (where he ate rats and insects to avert starvation) and (incorrectly) pronounced clinically dead in a hospital in northern Kenya. Today, he leads a less adventurous life as an author, columnist for the Guardian and environmental campaigner.

Among his books and projects are Feral: Rewilding the Land, Sea and Human Life; The Age of Consent; Heat: How to Stop the Planet Burning; and Out of the Wreckage: A New Politics for an Age of Crisis. His latest book, Regenesis: Feeding the World Without Devouring the Planet, is a breathtaking vision of a new future for food and for humanity.

Monbiot has made a number of viral videos. One of them, "How Wolves Change Rivers," based on an extract from his last TED Talk, has been watched 40 million times on YouTube.

George Monbiot’s TED talks

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Live from TEDSummit 2019

The Big Rethink: Notes from Session 3 of TEDSummit 2019

July 23, 2019

In an incredible session, speakers and performers laid out the biggest problems facing the world — from political and economic catastrophe to rising violence and deepfakes — and some new thinking on solutions. The event: TEDSummit 2019, Session 3: The Big Rethink, hosted by Corey Hajim and Cyndi Stivers When and where: Tuesday, July 23, […]

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A first glimpse at the TEDSummit 2019 speaker lineup

May 21, 2019

With TEDSummit 2019 just two months away, it’s time to unveil the first group of speakers that will take to the stage in Edinburgh, Scotland, from July 21-25. Three years ago, more than 1,000 members of the TED global community convened in Banff, Canada, for the first-ever TEDSummit. We talked about the fracturing state of […]

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