Jonathon Porritt

Jonathan Porritt

Jonathon Espie Porritt, CBE, (born 6 July 1950) is an English environmentalist and writer. Porritt appears frequently in the media, writing in magazines, newspapers and books, and appearing on radio and television regularly.

Early life and family background

He was born in London, and educated at Eton College and Magdalen College, Oxford. Despite training as a barrister, he decided to become an English teacher at St Clement Danes Grammar School (later Burlington Danes School) in Shepherd's Bush, West London in 1974.

Porritt is the son of Lord Porritt, 11th Governor-General of New Zealand. His father, an Allied general in World War II, was also the bronze medalist in the Olympic Chariots of Fire 100 metres race. As well as receiving a non-hereditary life peerage, Lord Porritt had previously been awarded a baronetcy. Jonathon Porritt is entitled to claim the baronetcy, becoming The Hon Sir Jonathon Porritt, 2nd Baronet, but has so far declined to do so. He has two daughters.

Political and campaigning career

In the 1970s and early 1980s, Porritt was a prominent member of the Ecology Party. As chair of the UK Ecology Party (now the Green Party) from 1978 to 1984, he presided over changes that made the party much more prominent in elections. Under his stewardship, membership grew from a few hundred to around 3,000.

In 1984 his first book, Seeing Green, was published. In this year he also gave up teaching to become Director of Friends of the Earth in Britain, a post he held until 1990. From 1993-1996 he chaired Stakeholder Forum for a Sustainable Future then known as UNEP-UK.

After the Greens achieved 15% of the European Parliamentary vote in 1989, he became a strong public advocate of change in the Green Party. In particular, he advocated a more professional organisation with identifiable leaders.

He also backed the election of Cynog Dafis, the joint Plaid Cymru-Green MP for Ceredigion.

With Sara Parkin and Paul Ekins he founded Forum for the Future in 1996, a sustainable development charity. In 1997 he was appointed the inaugural Chair of the incoming Labour government's Sustainable Development Commission from which he retired in September 2009.

He has also supported the Forests Now Declaration, which calls for new market based mechanisms to protect tropical forests.

In February 2009, Porritt stated that population growth is a serious threat to the global environment and that contraception, abortion and family planning is a part of the answer to global warming. He thinks that people should have no more than two children and if they do, they are being irresponsible. He has been heavily criticised for what some are calling anti-family and communist-like comments.

From the time at which he founded Forum of the Future, Porritt withdrew from party politics to concentrate on his non party political roles. In March 2009 Porritt spoke at the launch of the South West Green Party European Election campaign in Bristol, he stated that he had always remained a member of the Green Party and that now was the correct time to reaffirm his support.

Since leaving the SDC, Porritt has publicly supported the report Prosperity Without Growth.

It remains to be seen whether he will now return to party political activism after retiring from the SDC.

Current activities

Jonathan Porritt receiving honorary degree

Porritt acts as advisor to many bodies on environmental matters, as well as to individuals including Prince Charles and Stuart Rose, the chief executive of Marks & Spencer, advising on that company's forward strategy. He is a board member of Wessex Water.

Porritt is on the advisory board of BBC Wildlife magazine and actively supports the efforts of experts promoting renewable energy and sustainable development such as Walt Patterson. He is a former Chair and current President of sustainable development charity Sustainability South West. From 2000 - 2009 he was chair of the Sustainable Development Commission, set up by the UK Prime Minister Tony Blair. He has however been critical of the Labour government for its environmental record and its pro-nuclear stance. He is a patron of Population Matters, (formerly known as the Optimum Population Trust). A substantial re-write of his bestselling book Capitalism: As if the World Matters was published by Earthscan in September 2007. In July 2008 he became an honorary graduate of the University of Exeter.

Quotations

• “I am unapologetic about asking people to connect up their own responsibility for their total environmental footprint and how they decide to procreate and how many children they think are appropriate,”

• “I think we will work our way towards a position that says that having more than two children is irresponsible. It is the ghost at the table. We have all these big issues that everybody is looking at and then you don’t really hear anyone say the ‘p’ word.”

• "The trust (OPT) will release research suggesting UK population must be cut to 30m if the country wants to feed itself sustainably."

• "I've learned that the fate of the world's indigenous people lies in the fate of us all. And the reason is very simple. At the heart of today's so-called environmental crisis' is something profound and disturbing. We are simply not at one with the world in which we live, we are not 'true dwellers in the land', and behave for the most part as if we were just uncaring itinerants hanging around until we've used everything up and then moving on."

Arms

Coat of arms of Jonathon Porritt

Notes The arms of Jonathon Porritt were originally granted to his father. They consist of: Crest On a wreath Or and Gules, a dent Heraldic Antelope Gules armed Azure collared Or, holding a Torch of the last enflamed proper between two Fern Fronds Vert Escutcheon Or, a serpent in bend vert between two lions' heads erased gules, on a chief of the last two swords points upwards in saltire of the first, between as many roses argent both surmounted by another gules barbed and seeded proper Supporters On the dexter side an Eagle and on the sinister side a Tui Bird both proper Motto Sapienter et fortiter ferre

Bibliography

Books

• Porritt, Jonathon (1984). Seeing Green: the politics of ecology explained. ISBN 0-631-13893-5.
• Porritt, Jonathon (1994). The "Reader's Digest" Good Beach Guide.
• Porritt, Jonathon (1995). Liberty and Sustainability: Where One Person's Freedom is Another's Nuisance.
• Porritt, Jonathon (2000). Playing Safe: Science and the Environment (Prospects for Tomorrow).
• Porritt, Jonathon (2004). Making the Net Work: Sustainable Development in a Digital Society.
• Porritt, Jonathon (2005, revised 2007). Capitalism: As if the World Matters. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)

Articles

• Hilton, Isabel and Jonathon Porritt. "Sustainable development's 'taboo territory.'" chinadialogue. 2007-05-30.
• Perrement, Matt. "Interview with Jonathon Porritt: Sustainable development needs China." chinadialogue. 2006-09-19.
• Porritt, Jonathon. "China could lead the fight for a cooler climate." chinadialogue. 2007-11-13.
• Porritt, Jonathon. "China: the most important story in the world." chinadialogue. 2006-09-18.

See also

• Environmentalism
• Forum for the Future
• Green Party of England and Wales
• Institute for Corporate Culture Affairs
• Stakeholder Forum for a Sustainable Future
• Sustainable Development Commission
• Sustrans
• Planet Earth: The Future .

External links

• Biography
• Sustainable Development Commission - profile of Jonathon Porritt.
• Blog
• Audio recording of Oct 25, 2007 talk at the RSA on Capitalism as if the world matters
• Profile: Jonathon Porritt
• Women.timesonline.co.uk
• Jonathan Porritt RIBA Zero Carbon debate 2009(video)
• The Burntwood Lecture 2010: The Growth Fetish and the Death of Environmentalism (video)