Rupert Read

Ecological philosopher and green activist

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  • Audio and video
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  • Academic CV
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  • Writings
  • Audio and video
  • Books
  • Academic CV
  • Events
  • Why I accept donations
  • In the media
  • Contact
  • Audio and video

    Adapting for an Uncertain Future: A conversation with Rupert Read

    13 February 2023 /

    I joined the HEART Community Group for this online talk followed by a Q&A.

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  • Audio and video

    Europe’s Warmest Winter | TRT World

    3 February 2023 /

    “The next step has to be we start to take leadership into our own hands… The moderate flank stands for mass action on climate, action that will consist largely in “doing” what needs to be done in response to this crisis. We all now know that there IS a crisis, and that Government are not acting adequately on it. It’s time for us to do what is necessary, together, from the ground up, to make our communities resilient, and to make our workplaces and businesses and progressions truly climate-positive.” – Rupert Read Excerpt courtesy of TRT WORLD. Watch the full interview here.

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  • Writings

    Mourn and organise: On the power of truth in a world awash with lies

    21 December 2022 /

    This article first appeared on ABC Religion and Ethics. Upon learning that he was about to die, the Swedish-American labour activist and songwriter Joe Hill wrote a telegram to Bill Haywood, the founder of the Industrial Workers of the World. It read: “Goodbye, Bill. I die like a true blue rebel. Don’t waste any time mourning. Organize!” The (para)phrase “don’t mourn, organise” received a boost in popularity when a collection of Hill’s songs were released under the title “Don’t Mourn — Organize!: Songs of the Labour Songwriter Joe Hill”. The phrase was subsequently used by the Boston Globe as the title of an article honouring the American playwright, philosopher, and socialist thinker Howard Zinn when he…

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    “Adversity is the first path to truth”: How climate grief could be the making of us

    10 October 2022

    The King’s Speech

    21 December 2022
    Greenpeace protesters at the Conservative Party conference.

    Who Voted For This, Liz?

    5 October 2022
  • Writings

    Biodiversity: Targets, Optimism, and Lies

    21 December 2022 /

    This piece, with Victor Anderson, was originally featured in Green World here. Great rejoicing has followed the biodiversity agreement recently arrived at, just in time for Christmas. For example, ‘The Times’ editorial began: “The agreement in Montreal by 195 countries to protect wildlife and ecosystems, with 30 per cent of Earth’s lands and oceans protected by 2030, is a rare piece of good news in gloomy times.” The Environment section of the European Commission tweeted: “The new global #Biodiversity Agreement will ensure that nature keeps sustaining communities & economies for the next decades.” The nub of our claim here today is: this “ensure” is a lie. Target-setting is very different from implementation and achievement.…

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    The King’s Speech

    21 December 2022
    A still from the film Avatar 2.

    Avatar 2 should make us completely rethink our relationship with the planet

    21 December 2022
    Image of a sunset from space

    Is “longtermism” the cure or the sickness?

    5 October 2022
  • Writings

    The King’s Speech

    21 December 2022 /

    This article first appeared on Brave New Europe. An alternative to the Queen’s traditional Christmas message has been broadcast since 1993 which, more often than not, gives insight into a serious issue. What if in 2022 it wasn’t needed? Eco-philosopher Dr. Rupert Read, urges King Charles to use his massive platform to highlight a critical issue close to his heart. What follows. Drawing frequently on words that he has already publicly spoken, is the speech that Charles III ought to give, in his address to the nation on December 25th. Good afternoon, on this, Christmas Day. Sadly, as many of us have experienced especially in the last few years, there…

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    Just Stop Oil protesters glued themselves to the wall of the National Gallery in London and threw tomato soup at Vincent Van Gogh’s Sunflowers on 14 October 2022. Photograph: Antonio Olmos/The Guardian

    Will disruptive action help save the planet?

    30 October 2022

    ‘Stubborn Optimism’ Will Pave the Way to Climate Disaster

    5 December 2022

    Mourn and organise: On the power of truth in a world awash with lies

    21 December 2022
  • Audio and video

    An unprecedented crisis and lack of sufficient awareness 

    14 December 2022 /

    “The moderate flank stands for mass action on climate, action that will consist largely in “doing” what needs to be done in response to this crisis. We all now know that there IS a crisis, and that Government are not acting adequately on it. It’s time for us to do what is necessary, together, from the ground up, to make our communities resilient, and to make our workplaces and businesses and progressions truly climate-positive.” – Rupert Read. Excerpt from panel discussion with Robin Celikates, Andreas Malm, Eva von Redecker, and Rupert Read on the question “What is to be Done? Climate Crisis and Political Activism”. This was the closing event…

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  • Audio and video

    The rationale for the new moderate flank strategy

    12 December 2022 /

    Excerpt from panel discussion with Robin Celikates, Andreas Malm, Eva von Redecker, and Rupert Read on the question “What is to be Done? Climate Crisis and Political Activism”. This was the closing event of the Conference “Politics of Nature: Philosophical Perspectives on the Anthropocene” (Oct 20-21, 2022), organized by Thomas Khurana (Center for Post-Kantian Philosophy, https://cpkp.net/) and the ICI Berlin (https://www.ici-berlin.org/).

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  • Writings

    ‘Stubborn Optimism’ Will Pave the Way to Climate Disaster

    5 December 2022 /

    We can’t seriously address the climate emergency until we admit that some of our hopes have died, writes Rupert Read.

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    Mourn and organise: On the power of truth in a world awash with lies

    21 December 2022

    The King’s Speech

    21 December 2022

    Biodiversity: Targets, Optimism, and Lies

    21 December 2022
  • Just Stop Oil protesters glued themselves to the wall of the National Gallery in London and threw tomato soup at Vincent Van Gogh’s Sunflowers on 14 October 2022. Photograph: Antonio Olmos/The Guardian
    Writings

    Will disruptive action help save the planet?

    30 October 2022 /

    Is there any point throwing soup at a Van Gogh painting and mashed potato at a Monet? Two activists give their views

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    “Adversity is the first path to truth”: How climate grief could be the making of us

    10 October 2022
    Image of a sunset from space

    Is “longtermism” the cure or the sickness?

    5 October 2022
    A still from the film Avatar 2.

    Avatar 2 should make us completely rethink our relationship with the planet

    21 December 2022
  • Writings

    “Adversity is the first path to truth”: How climate grief could be the making of us

    10 October 2022 /

    This article was first published on ABC Religion and Ethics, here. Gone is the age of natural disasters. The climate disasters of today are of a profoundly unnatural character. They are the product of pumping the atmosphere full of carbon dioxide, methane, and a litany of other greenhouse gases. The dire wildfires, droughts, and flash flooding we have seen in the past few years are only a taste of things to come. When confronted with the sobering reality of climate breakdown, it is tempting to give in to one of two impulses. On the one hand, there is the allure of wishful thinking, naïve optimism, and New Age (toxic) positivity.…

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    Mourn and organise: On the power of truth in a world awash with lies

    21 December 2022

    Biodiversity: Targets, Optimism, and Lies

    21 December 2022

    ‘Stubborn Optimism’ Will Pave the Way to Climate Disaster

    5 December 2022
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