One of the most prominent and best respected environmentalists in the world addresses climate change and the media. Jonathon Porritt believes this vital issue has never been high enough on the national agenda – with the media at least partly to blame.Looking back over the last decade, he argues, there are many reasons why it has proved so difficult to address the challenges of accelerating climate change with proportionate economic and political urgency here in the UK.  For Porritt, the  media has played its part in that sad and sorry story, through a combination of ignorance, indifference, a lack of creativity and wholly inappropriate notions of ‘balance’ in reporting.  There have, of course, been many significant exceptions to that ‘rule’, he argues, but questions  whether it’s going to be any better over the next decade.”

Booking

This event is free to attend but booking is required. Book here.

Biography – Jonathon Porritt, Founder Director of Forum for the Future

Jonathon Porritt, Co-Founder of Forum for the Future, is an eminent writer, broadcaster and commentator on sustainable development. Established in 1996, Forum for the Future is now the UK’s leading sustainable development charity. The Forum has a growing presence in the United States, India, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. In addition he is a Non-Executive Director of Willmott Dixon Holdings, a Trustee of Ashden, and a Director of Collectively (an online platform celebrating sustainable innovation). He was formerly Director of Friends of the Earth, co-chair of the Green Party and as Chairman of the UK Sustainable Development Commission until 2009, he spent nine years providing high-level advice to Government Ministers. Jonathon was installed as the Chancellor of Keele University in February 2012. He is also Visiting Professor at Loughborough University and UCL. Recent books are ‘Capitalism As If The World Matters’ (2007) and‘The World We Made’ (2013) - which seeks to inspire people about the prospects of a sustainable world in 2050. Jonathon received a CBE in January 2000 for services to environmental protection.