Category Archives: George Monbiot

Too right it’s Black Friday: our relentless consumption is trashing the planet George Monbiot

Posted on November 28, 2017 by Palace Gate Counselling Service

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/22/black-friday-consumption-killing-planet-growth? Click on the above link to visit the Guardian for this article by George Monbiot, to mark last week’s ‘Black Friday’. ‘When you hear that something makes economic sense, this means it makes the opposite of common sense. Those … Continue reading →

Posted in accountability, awakening, boundaries, compulsive behaviour, cultural questions, dependence, Disconnection, ecological, ecological issues, ethics, George Monbiot, growth, human condition, mindfulness, natural world, paradigm shift, perception, political, reality, resilience, risk, shadow, violence, vulnerability | Tagged #extremecivilisation, absolute decoupling, addiction, addictive behaviour, advertising and cultural norms, affordable counselling exeter, associating consumption with happiness, authoritarianism, auto destruct, autonomy and choice, Black Friday, Brave New World, carbon dioxide production, climate breakdown, climate change, collapse of habitats, collective insanity, collective madness, conscious consumers, consumer boom, consumer economy, consumer society, consumerism, consumption and happiness, counselling exeter, counsellor Exeter, counsellors Exeter, cultural self harming, cultural shadow, decoupling, destructive behaviour, disconnection, disposable culture, ecological space, economic inequality, economic sense and common sense, Environment and Behaviour, environmental awareness, essential resources, ethical responsibility, fallacy of growth economy, festival of junk, George Monbiot, global warming, green consumerism, green consumers, growth economy, growth is unnecessary, growth of inequality, hedonism, industrialisation, industrialised nations, industrialization, insane culture, insectageddon, landfill, living world, low cost counselling exeter, marketing psychology, marketing tactics, mass extinction, mass media and cultural norms, material decoupling, neoliberalism, non growth based model, normalised consumption, normalising, normalizing, numbing, oligarchy, Palace Gate Counselling Service, Palace Gate Counselling Service Exeter, Pancakebot, paradigm shift, pathological consumption, perceived obsolescence, perpetual growth, person centred counselling exeter, planetary survival, planned obsolescence, pointless consumption, pointlessness, political imperative, poverty relief, relative decoupling, richest 1%, richest one percent, rising consumption, sea of plastic, self destruct, self harming, selling dreams, selling meaning, sick culture, Simple Lifers, soil loss, species collapse, stimulating spending, Story of Stuff, sufficiency model, sustainability, sustainable growth, trashing the planet, unsustainability, use of resources, well-being, www.palacegatecounselling.org.uk | Leave a comment

The 12th day of Christmas – George Monbiot

Posted on December 2, 2016 by Palace Gate Counselling Service

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/dec/10/on-12th-day-christmas-present-junk Click on the link above for George’s article in the Guardian on the real cost of Christmas, and the inheritance we are creating for our children and those yet to come. “…of the materials flowing through the consumer economy, … Continue reading →

Posted in 'evil', abuse, accountability, advertising, awakening, communication, compulsive behaviour, cultural questions, cultural taboos, Disconnection, ecological, ecological issues, ethics, Gabor Mate, George Monbiot, loss, Maya Angelou, natural world, objectification, paradigm shift, political, shadow, sustainability, violence | Tagged Adam Welz, addiction, addictive behaviour, advertising and cultural norms, affordable counselling exeter, Annie Leonard, associating consumption with happiness, authoritarianism, carbon dioxide production, climate change, collective insanity, collective madness, consumer boom, consumer economy, consumer society, consumerism, consumption and happiness, counselling exeter, counsellor Exeter, counsellors Exeter, cultural self harming, cultural shadow, destructive behaviour, disconnection, discovered that, disposable culture, economic inequality, ethical responsibility, fallacy of growth economy, fatuity, festival of junk, Gabor Mate, George Monbiot, global warming, growth economy, growth of inequality, hedonism, industrialisation, industrialised nations, industrialization, insane culture, landfill, living world, low cost counselling exeter, mass media and cultural norms, Maya Angelou, Moral Maze, normalising, normalizing, numbing, Palace Gate Counselling Service, Palace Gate Counselling Service Exeter, paradigm shift, pathological consumption, perceived obsolescence, person centred counselling exeter, planned obsolescence, pointless consumption, pointlessness, rhino horn, scratch off world map, self harming, selling dreams, selling meaning, sick culture, stimulating spending, Story of Stuff, sustainability, Terry the Swearing Turtle, unsustainability, www.palacegatecounselling.org.uk | Leave a comment

Forty Days – Paul Kingsnorth

Posted on October 31, 2015 by Palace Gate Counselling Service

https://www.globalonenessproject.org/library/articles/forty-days A counter-cultural invitation by Paul to explore the creative potential of withdrawing and of being alone, in the context of his own longings for withdrawal. As the introduction here puts it:- ‘He explains and reinterprets his childhood dreams of withdrawal … Continue reading →

Posted in awakening, Charles Eisenstein, consciousness, creativity, cultural questions, Disconnection, ecological, embodiment, empowerment, encounter, ethics, external locus, flow, George Monbiot, growth, healing, immanence, interconnection & belonging, internal locus of evaluation, loneliness, love, meaning, meditation, metaphor & dream, natural world, non-conforming, organismic experiencing, paradigm shift, Paul Kingsnorth, physical being, power and powerlessness, presence, relationship, rewilding, shaming, spirituality, surrender, sustainability, transformation, violence, vulnerability, wonder | Tagged abandoning self, action and inaction, activating change, active quest, activism, adaptation, affordable counselling exeter, Albert Camus, alienation, alone, aloneness, assumptions, being seen, beliefs, belittling, belonging, blaming, Bob Dylan, burnout, call from the desert, campaigning, Carla Andrade, change, Charles Eisenstein, childhood, childhood desires, childhood fantasy, childhood imagination, chosen solitude, Christian Desert Fathers, climate change, coming home, coming home to self, commitment, complexity, condemning, Confessions of a Recovering Environmentalist, connectedness, connection, cosmology, counselling exeter, counsellor Exeter, counsellors Exeter, creative withdrawal, creativity, cynicism, Dark Ecology, dark magic, Dark Mountain Project, dark mystery, Dark Retreats, deep mystery, divining, doomer, dream, eco sexual, economic collapse, Edward Abbey, encounter, engagement, environmental movement, ethics, existential meaning, exploration, external locus, fairytales, false assumptions, fantasy, flexibility, flow, folktales, forty days in the desert, fragmentation, Gaia, George Monbiot, greatness, green movement, heartfulness, hermit, home, homecoming, human needs, human spirit, human violence, ideology, imagination, immeasurable, impermanence, indigenous culture, inner landscape, inner voice, intensity, interconnectedness, interdependence, internal locus, intuition, invisible world, inward landscape, isolation, John Muir, judging, khalwa, learning, legends, letting go, loneliness, loss of direction, low cost counselling exeter, magic, mainstream, mass extinction, meaning, meaningful, meditation, meditative withdrawal, meeting change, metaphor, modernity, moral position, movement, mystery, myth of sustainable development, myths, narrative, narratives, natural world, new paradigm, new ways of thinking, nihilism, non-engagement, open heart, Palace Gate Counselling Service, Palace Gate Counselling Service Exeter, paradigm shift, passion, Paul Kingsnorth, permanent state of becoming, person centred counselling exeter, personal meaning, pilgrimage, political activism, population overshoot, post environmentalist, power, presence, protecting the natural world, quest, questing mind, rational mind, recluse, replenishment, retreat, retreat from the world, rewilding, rigidity, saving the world, self indulgence, separation, shaming, silence, silence in nature, solitude, Sparrowhawk, spiritual meaning, spiritual necessity, spiritual quest, spirituality, St Ignatius, St Ignatius exercises, stagnation, Stephen Donaldson, stepping back, story-telling, Sufism, supporting change, surrender, Taoism, terror, Tolkien, transformation, transience, Ursula Le Guin, Viking gods, Vikings, violence, violent excess, vision quest, wanting attention, web of life, wild loneliness, wild spirit, wild spirit of the world, wild walks, wilderness, wilderness as necessity, wilderness quest, wisdom, withdrawal, withdrawal from the modern world, wizards, www.palacegatecounselling.org.uk | Leave a comment

George Monbiot – Why I ate a roadkill squirrel

Posted on September 30, 2015 by Palace Gate Counselling Service

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/aug/27/why-i-ate-a-roadkill-squirrel ‘….it seems to me that some people have confused what is customary with what is ethical.’ Challenging, thought-provoking piece from George, well worth a read. Palace Gate Counselling Service, Exeter Counselling in Exeter since 1994

Posted in awakening, blaming, compassion, compulsive behaviour, cultural questions, cultural taboos, Disconnection, dying, Eating, ecological, ecological issues, education, emotions, equality, ethics, external locus, fear, George Monbiot, grief, human condition, identity, immanence, interconnection & belonging, internal locus of evaluation, meaning, mindfulness, natural world, non-conforming, organismic experiencing, paradigm shift, perception, physical being, political, presence, shaming, sustainability, values & principles, wonder | Tagged activism, affordable counselling exeter, ancestors, ancient soul, components of being, conditions of worth, conforming, conservation, consumer society, consumerism, counselling exeter, counsellor Exeter, counsellors Exeter, crop production, cultural barriers, cultural taboo, cultural values, customs, death, demonising, demonizing, dissonance, doing harm, dying, earth mother, eating game, eating roadkill, eco-diversity, ecological processes, embodied, embodied experience, embodiment, enlightenment, environmental damage, environmental impact, environmental issues, equality, ethical sense, ethics, evolutionary history, external locus, factory farming, fall from grace, fear of unfamiliar, Feral, free range farming, free range production, Gaia, gateway, George Monbiot, grief, habitat loss, harm done, hero, hero’s journey, hunting, idolising, idolizing, inner life, intensity, invisible world, inward life, judgement, judgemental, life as sacred, livestock production, low cost counselling exeter, magic, metaphor, metaphysics, mores, mother earth, mourning, myth, narrative, native forests, native woodland, natural world, non-conforming, organic farming, organic food production, organismic, other world, outer life, overconsumption, overuse of antibiotics, Palace Gate Counselling Service, Palace Gate Counselling Service Exeter, perception, perceptual opening, person centred counselling exeter, portal, primitive self, protest, rawness, resistant pathogen, respect, respectfulness for life, roadkill, scapegoat, self concept, sensation, sensory experience, sessile oaks, slaughterhouses, social media, soil erosion, sorrow, squirrel meat, suffering, survival, sustainability, tribe, unfamiliar, veganism, www.palacegatecounselling.org.uk | Leave a comment

The age of loneliness is killing us – George Monbiot

Posted on February 28, 2015 by Palace Gate Counselling Service

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/14/age-of-loneliness-killing-us Powerful piece by George Monbiot in the Guardian on how cultural structures, norms and values are eroding our sense of personhood, belonging, interconnection, and denying us the one essential condition if we are to thrive – love. Thanks to … Continue reading →

Posted in compulsive behaviour, cultural questions, Disconnection, ethics, fear, George Monbiot, human condition, interconnection & belonging, loneliness, love, meaning, natural world, paradigm shift, political, power and powerlessness, relationship, research evidence, self, self concept, self esteem, sustainability, trauma, values & principles, vulnerability | Tagged addictive behaviour, affordable counselling exeter, alienation, anxiety, belonging, competition, consumerism, consumption, corporate exploitation, corporate power, counselling exeter, counsellor Exeter, counsellors Exeter, cultural norms, cultural values, depression, disconnection, dissatisfaction, ecological exploitation, ecological issues, economic elite, economic exploitation, economic inequality, economic power, George Monbiot, hedonist society, individualism, interconnectedness, interconnection, loneliness, low cost counselling exeter, Men in Sheds, Palace Gate Counselling Service, Palace Gate Counselling Service Exeter, paradigm shift, person centred counselling exeter, psychological effects of loneliness, relationship, self medication, social alienation, social animal, social change, social isolation, social norms, Thomas Hobbes, Walking Football, www.palacegatecounselling.org.uk | Leave a comment

Johann Hari on Addiction

Posted on January 23, 2015 by Palace Gate Counselling Service

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/johann-hari/the-real-cause-of-addicti_b_6506936.html Click on the link for this excellent article. We have seen this in a number of places over the past few days (thank you, Brent Potter and Monica Cassani), and it deserves a wide audience. The writer’s sense at … Continue reading →

Posted in actualizing tendency, anti-depressants, anti-psychotics, civil rights, compulsive behaviour, consciousness, core conditions, criminal justice model, cultural questions, dependence, Disconnection, Gabor Mate, George Monbiot, healing, human condition, interconnection & belonging, internal locus of evaluation, loneliness, Palace Gate Counselling Service, paradigm shift, perception, person centred, person centred theory, physical being, political, power and powerlessness, psychiatric abuse, psychiatric drugs, psychiatry, reality, relationship, research evidence, sadness & pain, suicide, therapeutic growth, therapeutic relationship, trauma, vulnerability, working with clients | Tagged 12 Step model, actualising, actualizing, adaptation, adaptive behaviour, addiction, addictive behaviour, affordable counselling exeter, age of loneliness, belonging, Billie Holiday, bonding, Bruce Alexander, Carl Rogers, Carl Rogers' potatoes, cause of drug addiction, causes of drug addiction, Chasing the Scream, chemical hooks, cocaine addiction, compulsive behaviour, context, coping mechanism, coping strategies, core conditions, counselling exeter, counsellor Exeter, counsellors Exeter, criminal justice system, cultural oppression, decriminalising drugs, decriminalizing drugs, dependence, disconnection, disempowering, disempowerment, drug dependency, drug related deaths, drug related homicide, drug related murder, drug related suicide, drug use, drug use in prisoners, drug use in soldiers, drug war, drug withdrawal, EM Forster, Gabor Mate, George Monbiot, healing, heroin addiction, human connection, interconnectedness, interconnection, internal locus, Johann Hari, low cost counselling exeter, need for connection, need for relationship, nicotine patches, nicotine withdrawal, numbing, only connect, Palace Gate Counselling Service, Palace Gate Counselling Service Exeter, paradigm shift, Partnership for a Drug free America, person centred counselling exeter, Peter Cohen, political, Portuguese drug laws, potatoes in cellar, prescription drug use, prison system, rat cocaine experiment, Rat Park, recreational drug use, relationship, Richard DeGrandpre, smoking, stopping smoking, The Cult of Pharmacology, therapeutic conditions, therapeutic process, trauma, unconditional love, UPR, Uruguay President, Vietnam War, vulnerability, war on drugs, www.palacegatecounselling.org.uk | Leave a comment

The Wolves of Yellowstone – George Monbiot, & Candice Anne Hershman

Posted on September 27, 2014 by Palace Gate Counselling Service

In 1995, naturalists re-introduced wolves into Yellowstone National Park, after a 70 year absence. The most remarkable “trophic cascade” occurred. What is a trophic cascade and how exactly do wolves change rivers? George Monbiot explains. We found this film through … Continue reading →

Posted in beauty, consciousness, creativity, ecological, ecological issues, George Monbiot, healing, human condition, immanence, interconnection & belonging, mindfulness, natural world, paradigm shift, physical being, political, rewilding, risk, sustainability, TED, transformation, wonder | Tagged affordable counselling exeter, altruism, belonging, Candice Anne Hershman, change, counselling exeter, counsellor Exeter, counsellors Exeter, ecological issues, Feral, Gaia, Gaia Theory, George Monbiot, hope, interconnection, interconnection and belonging, James Lovelock, low cost counselling exeter, native american spirituality, Palace Gate Counselling Service, Palace Gate Counselling Service Exeter, paradigm shift, person centred counselling exeter, person-centered, person-centred, reintroduction of species, reintroduction of wolves, rewilding, self regulating organism, self regulating system, self regulation, Society for Humanistic Psychology, spirituality, sustainability, TED, transformative change, trophic cascade, wolf medicine, wonder, www.palacegatecounselling.org.uk, Yellowstone wolves | Leave a comment