Thom Yorke Discusses Climate Change With Writer George Monbiot

Photo by Tom Spray

The Paris-based magazine Télérama have published a conversation between Thom Yorke and author/activist George Monbiot. Yorke is a professed fan of Monbiot’s writing, and throughout the interview, the two men discussed climate change.

Throughout the conversation, Yorke and Monbiot discuss how they’ve responded to climate change in their day-to-day lives—becoming vegetarian, Radiohead’s carbon neutral touring initiative, and so on. Yorke said that for a time, figuring out how to reduce his carbon footprint became an obsession.

I mean, initially, it kept me awake at night—which sounds really stupid—especially when my second child arrived, in 2004, I got unhealthily obsessed with it. But when I started to get involved in doing something about it, that helped me a lot. But I always have the impression that I am not doing enough at all.

When asked if his efforts to do something about climate change were at all similar to artists speaking out against the Vietnam War, Yorke responded, “In the ’60s, you could write songs that were like calls to arms, and it would work. … It’s much harder to do that now. If I was going to write a protest song about climate change in 2015, it would be shit. It’s not like one song or one piece of art or one book is going to change someone’s mind.”

He also discussed why he appreciated the Beastie Boys’ activism, the “really bleak” climate change conference they both attended in 2009, why he enjoys spending time in the wilderness, and how “society is still run by a bunch of misguided priests.” Read the entire conversation.

Yorke is performing at Pathway to Paris on December 5—an event taking place in conjunction with this year’s UN Climate Change Conference. Patti Smith and Flea are also performing.

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