Today we speak with George Monbiot, who studied zoology at Oxford, and has spent his career as a journalist and environmentalist, working with others to defend the natural world. His celebrated Guardian columns are syndicated all over the world.

George is the author of the bestselling books Feral: Rewilding the Land, Sea and Human Life, The Age of Consent: A Manifesto for a New World Order, and Captive State: The Corporate Takeover of Britain, as well as the investigative travel books Poisoned Arrows, Amazon Watershed and No Man's Land. His latest book is Out of the Wreckage: a New Politics for an Age of Crisis. Among the many prizes he has won is the UN Global 500 award for outstanding environmental achievement, presented to him by Nelson Mandela.

♫ Music featured in this episode includes "Blow, Gabriel" by The McIntosh County Shouters, "Spirit Intrusion Removal Song" by Kofan Shaman and "The Child Inside" by Ewan McLennan and George Monbiot.