This is the 5 minute argument

[friend_of_tofu]

Ooh, George Monbiot's doing a speaking tour. Anyone fancy going? There are several events in London.

I want to see if climate deniers will turn up...

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Comments

[auntysarah]

Is he the one who thinks Ocado will save the planet?

[friend_of_tofu]

I've got no idea what that refers to, but I strongly doubt it. I wouldn't put it past him to be a Waitrose shopper though - workers' collectives and all that!

[auntysarah]

He hates supermarkets, with a passion. Part of his environmental plan to save the Earth is to forcibly close all "out of town" supermarkets making small shops and mass grocery delivery the only mechanisms for shopping. Apparently this makes sense because delivery warehouses are intrinsically more efficient than supermarkets because you can do more people's groceries in a single trip and don't have to have as many light on, or something.

As a plan it is somewhat flawed in that it basically ignores the existence of people who a) have to work for a living and cannot afford to arrange their lives around grocery deliveries for their weekly shop, and b) the millions of people living in suburbs and satellite towns for whom the "out of town" supermarket *is* their local shop.

Or in his own words, from http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2006/10/31/heres-the-plan/
Legislate for the closure of all out-of-town superstores, and their replacement with a

[friend_of_tofu]

Yes, I know he really hates Tesco. I read 'Captive State'. I'm aware of the above.

A lot of his planning objections are entirely valid; out of town supermarkets are a whole area of planning which has its own issues. I personally agree with his argument that supermarkets should be required to charge for car parking, but would like to see this funding local authority services, not supermarkets.