Jonathon Porritt

Jonathon Porritt is a sustainability campaigner and writer (website, Twitter, Wikipedia). After years in the Green Party (while working full-time as a teacher), in 1984 he became director of Friends of the Earth in Britain and then co-founded Forum for the Future in 1996. (One of the other co-founders was Paul Ekins, who I interviewed for Powerful Times here. I worked with Jonathon when I was at Forum, 2003-2016.)

Jonathon was also Chair of the UK Sustainable Develop Commission for nine years (2000-2009) and Chancellor of Keele University (2012-2022).

He has been at the forefront of sustainability, in business and also government, for the last 30 years. We spoke in November 2023, just after he had, in his own words, extricated himself from the roles which had been very present in that time, including stepped back from any role in Forum.

For Jonathon, at the heart of sustainable development is this very simple, but massively powerful notion of intergenerational justice. That is still provides the rationale for everything that he does and allows him to envision ways in which 8 billion today and 10 billion people in the future could live reasonably good lives in the future.

One telling reflection: a focus on positive solutions for the last 30 years has put Jonathon's anger on hold, and he now feels that has been problematic. He's moving back into campaigning, being less reasonable with those who deserve our anger, and also still constantly absorbing in the solutions to the problems we face.

Links

Brundtland Commission definition of sustainable development:

"Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."

Jonathon's latest book, Hope in Hell.

Grist Imagine 2220

Timings

00:56 - Q1. What are you doing now? And how did you get there?

3:55 -Q2. What is the future you are trying to create, and why?

7:35 - Q3. What are your priorities for the next few years, and why?

10:31 - Q4. If someone was inspired to follow those priorities, what should they do next?

14:00 Q5. If your younger self was starting their career now, what advice would you give them?

19:37 - Q6. Who would you nominate to answer these questions, because you admire their approach?

22:36 - Q7. Is there anything else important you feel you have to say?

More details here.

Twitter: Powerful_Times

Website hub: here.

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Thank you for listening! -- David