Audio: Environmentalism item, Start the Week, BBC Radio 4, 5 February 2007

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Wangari Maathai founder of the Green Belt Movement: we should be concerned about the environment because "Jesus was crucified on a tree"... 22m: Michael Portillo "Environmentalism has already come dangerously close to being a religion, without being pushed any further. I watched the Nine O'Clock News on the BBC on Friday, on the day of the latest report, and it was more like a revival meeting than serious journalism... the idea of declaring flying a sin absolutely apalls me.... The idea of restraining demand is one way of addressing the problem. Another of course is to go for nuclear power, which doesn't emit. So... if you just substitute the words 'It is a sin not to campaign for nuclear power' I think you begin to reveal the essence of this, which is that it is not a religious problem, it is a political question. The extent to which people should be restrained from doing what they wish to do, the extent to which we should provide subsidies for new technologies, these are not religious questions, these are political issues." Roman Catholic Mark Dowd, maker of the documentary 'God is Green', responded by observing that "In democracy, politicians won't confront voters, they won't come forward and often make the very unpopular suggestions that are necessary. Spiritual leaders, without having to go to the ballot box, can sometimes just say it."

• Web Address: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/starttheweek_20070205.shtml
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• Tags: environment, energy, aviation, climate change, proto-religion, political discourse, it industry
• Saved by Nico Macdonald on February 05, 2007.
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