Rupert Read is an author, philosopher, and activist, perhaps best known for his prominent role in Extinction Rebellion. He’s written more than a dozen books and his most recent – Why Climate Breakdown Matters – is, well, full on. Full on in that it argues that unless we confront the full horror of the situation we’re in, and the very high likelihood that that situation will unravel towards some sort of societal collapse, then we can’t possibly hope to plot a course towards a liveable future.

So yeah, it’s not for the faint hearted, but Rupert’s argument also goes that it’s *only* truth-telling that has had any success in recent years (see e.g. XR and Greta) and that love & compassion has to be at the heart of our response to climate breakdown, which when you think about it, is rather lovely. Apart from the climate breakdown bit.

So strap in for a bracing but powerful chat with a very big brain, who – praise the Lord – seems to think that the Babble isn’t a massive diversion from the task at hand.

Get 20% off when you order Rupert’s book from bloomsbury.com and use these discount codes:
US orders: BREAK22US
UK orders: BREAK22UK
Canadian orders: BREAK22CA
Australian/New Zealand orders: BREAK22AU

Sustainababble is your friendly environment podcast, out weekly. Theme music by the legendary Dicky Moore – @dickymoo. Sustainababble logo by the splendid Arthur Stovell at Design by Mondial. Ecoguff read out by Arabella.

Love the babble? Bung us a few pennies at www.patreon.com/sustainababble.

MERCH: sustainababble.teemill.com

Available on iTunes, Spotify, Acast & all those types of things, or at sustainababble.fish. Visit us at @thebabblewagon and at Facebook.com/sustainababble. Email us at hello@sustainababble.fish.