You can deny environmental calamity – until you check the facts | George Monbiot

Rosy worldviews that rely on avoiding inconvenient truths should always set alarm bells ringing

One of the curiosities of our age is the way in which celebrity culture comes to dominate every aspect of public life. Even the review pages of the newspapers sometimes look like a highfalutin version of gossip magazines. Were we to judge them by the maxim "Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people", they would not emerge well. Biography dominates. Ideas often seem to come last. Brilliant writers such as Sylvia Plath are better known for their lives than their work. Turning her into the Princess Diana of literature does neither her nor her readers any favours.

Related: Steven Pinker: 'The way to deal with pollution is not to rail against consumption'