Supporter of the week: Jonathon Porritt

Hannah Booth

03 February 2012

To celebrate Friends of the Earth's 40th anniversary, I've been talking to some of the supporters who've made it all possible. Jonathon Porritt (right) is a former Director of Friends of the Earth.

"I was on the Sustainable Development Commission for 9 years - and don't miss party political work.

"It's grinding stuff - there's an extraordinary amount of interdepartmental rivalry and dysfunction. I'd never go back to it, at least not under this Government. Although I don't think they'd have me.

"We can't hope that our political parties will achieve much for the environment: the LibDems have trashed their heritage of environmental concern, and Labour's record in office is pretty poor.

"Since the Commission's demise, I've been doing a lot more campaigning, particularly on nuclear issues and on forests.

"For me, nuclear energy is absolutely not part of the deal, and it worries me that influential environmentalists are saying it should be in the mix. They offer pathetically frail arguments. 

"The biggest environmental challenge facing the world is the fixation on economic growth at all costs. It's a struggle to find sufficient arguments against it, but until we do, all other campaigns will find it hard to be heard.

"I suppose I am a bit of a veteran. I joined the Green Party in 1975. But I don't feel gloomy looking back - we've made huge progress since then. But the longer you're in this area of work, the less time you have to get things done.

"We simply don't have as much time to sort out the collapse of the world's ecosystems as we do, say, population growth. These are time-defined issues."

To see all the supporters I've interviewed, visit our 40th anniversary gallery.

Hannah Booth also writes Lives Less Ordinary.