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Alex Steffen

Alex Steffen Quotes

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Alex Steffen, born in 1968, is an influential thinker in the fields of sustainable development and future cities. His work focuses on exploring how to achieve sustainable urbanization in the 21st century and how to address global challenges through innovation and collaboration.

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Famous Alex Steffen Quotes

“Kids born today will see us navigate past the first greatest test of humanity, which is: can we actually be smart enough to live on a planet without destroying it?”

Earth Humanity History Mankind Future Resources Sustainability Planet Earth

Author:Alex Steffen

“For carbon-neutral cities, there are things worth talking about in how our consumption patterns can change - sharing goods, etc. - but those are a fraction of the impacts of transportation and building energy use. If we need to choose priority actions, the most important things are to densify, provide transit, and green the buildings.”

Ifs Needs Important Use Action Energy Cities Talking Building Green Important Things Impact Patterns Priorities Etc Goods Consumption Carbon Transportation Fractions Energy Use

Author:Alex Steffen

“Our cities need to change, fast. Tactical Urbanism is a guided tour of solutions created when local people decide they can't wait for politics to catch up before they improve their neighborhoods. This weathervane book deserves a place on any urbanist's bookshelf.”

People Needs Book Waiting Cities Solutions Deserve Locals Neighborhood Need A Change Bookshelves Tactical

Author:Alex Steffen

“Clean air and water, a diversity of animal and plant species, soil and mineral resources, and predictable weather are annuities that will pay dividends for as long as the human race survives – and may even extend our stay on Earth.”

Humans May Long Earth Water Animal Pay Race Air Diversity Resources Clean Plant Species Weather Human Race Soil Predictable Minerals Dividends Clean Air Air And Water Mineral Resources

Author:Alex Steffen

“The planet's biggest problems have to do with sustainability, environmental decline, global poverty, disease, conflict and so forth. Really, they're all interconnected - it's one big problem, which is that the way we're doing things can't go on.”

Way Problem Bigs Poverty Planets Goes On Conflict Disease Environmental Sustainability Decline Big Problems Interconnected Global Poverty

Author:Alex Steffen

“Saying the Tech Bloom is not commercially driven is like saying Mother Teresa had an interest in the poor.”

Mother Interest Poor Driven Teresa

Author:Alex Steffen

“Cabbies in particular seem to like discussing the fate the Earth.”

Seems Earth Fate Particular Discussing

Author:Alex Steffen

“Cities generate most of the global economy, and most of its energy use, resource demands and climate emissions. How we build cities over the next decades will largely determine whether we can deliver a bright green future.”

Use Next Energy Cities Economy Demand Resources Green Climate Determine Decades Emissions Global Economy Energy Use

Author:Alex Steffen

“Cities offer us powerful leverage on our most stubborn, wasteful practices. Long commutes in our cars, big power bills from our energy-hogging buildings, shopping trips to buy stuff that'll spend a few short months in our homes and long centuries in our landfills.”

Long Home Bigs Energy Stuff Powerful Cities Practice Century Car Building Months Offers Bills Shopping Stubborn Landfills

Author:Alex Steffen

“By fundamentally changing how we design the places and systems that enable our daily lives, we can slash emissions way beyond the immediate carbon savings - because our own personal emissions are just the tip of a vast iceberg of energy and resources consumed far from our view.”

Way Energy Views Design Resources Saving Daily Life Carbon Consumed Savings Emissions Iceberg

Author:Alex Steffen

“The denser places get, the lower the amount of energy people use to get around it.”

People Use Energy Amount

Author:Alex Steffen

“Carbon zero simply means that the emissions you are releasing either are zero or balance out to zero.”

Mean Balance Zero Carbon Emissions

Author:Alex Steffen

“Copenhagen has done a remarkable job creating streets that are focused on bicycles and pedestrians.”

Done Jobs Streets Creating Focused Remarkable Bicycle Pedestrians Copenhagen

Author:Alex Steffen

“In almost all city governments in America, the small group of people who don't want change are able to block change.”

People Want Government Able America Cities Groups Block Small Groups City Government

Author:Alex Steffen

“At its very heart, Worldchanging is about using the best of people's new ideas, bringing them together and applying them to the massive problems that we all face.”

People Heart Ideas Problem Together Faces Massive New Ideas

Author:Alex Steffen

“Cities are responsible for the vast majority of the creation of the economy. They're also places into which we pour the vast majority of resources, the vast majority of energy and the places where a huge percentage of the decisions about how systems are built and how products designed, etc., happen.”

Happens Energy Decision Cities Economy Creation Products Huge Resources Built Responsible Majority Etc Percentages

Author:Alex Steffen

“Deep walkability describes a city that is built in such a way that you can move from one area to another on foot, on bicycle, on transit and have an experience that remains a pleasant one, that you feel you are welcome not just in the neighborhood but moving between neighborhoods.”

Way Feels Moving Cities Feet Built Areas Remains Welcome Pleasant Neighborhood Bicycle

Author:Alex Steffen

“For most people, using the Internet broadens their sense of who 'we' is and actually ends up leaving us in a place of greater compassion and understanding. It leaves us more connected to a larger group of people and more at one with a lot more people in our community.”

People Ends Understanding Community Compassion Greater Groups Internet Leaving Connected Who We Are Our Community

Author:Alex Steffen

“I think there's a gigantic generation gap in terms of how people understand the Internet and how much they think technology is an important factor in social change.”

People Thinking Important Social Term Technology Generations Internet Factors Gaps Social Change Generation Gap

Author:Alex Steffen

“I think we're going to start to see a new model of civic advocacy where people get together once in a while to protest, but it's more about an ongoing, sustained engagement in issues, networks and communities about which people care.”

People Thinking Care Together Community Issues Models Protest Engagement Ongoing Civics Get Together Advocacy

Author:Alex Steffen

“If mass media, social isolation in the suburbs, alienating workplaces and long car commutes create a bunker mentality, the Internet does the opposite.”

Ifs Long Doe Social Media Car Internet Mass Opposites Isolation Mentality Workplace Suburbs Mass Media Bunkers Social Isolation Different Mentality

Author:Alex Steffen

“There's no law of physics that says we have to be an unsustainable society - in fact, quite the opposite. The planet's ready to work with us if we're ready to think differently, but we do have to make that jump and start to do things in new ways.”

Ifs Thinking Way Facts Law Planets Ready Opposites Physics New Ways Laws Of Physics

Author:Alex Steffen

“We get so little news about the developing world that we often forget that there are literally millions of people out there struggling to change things to be fairer, freer, more democratic, less corrupt.”

People World Littles Forget Poverty Millions Struggle News Democratic Developing

Author:Alex Steffen

“We have to craft new political realities, not only in places like India, Afghanistan, Kenya, Pakistan, but here at home as well. Another world is possible.”

World Wells Home Reality Political Poverty India Crafts Afghanistan Pakistan Another World Kenya

Author:Alex Steffen

“By looking at climate change as a clean energy generation problem, we're setting ourselves up not to solve it.”

Problem Energy Generations Clean Climate Climate Change Solve Activism Setting Settings Clean Energy

Author:Alex Steffen

“You don't change the world by hiding in the woods, wearing a hair shirt, or buying indulgences in the form of 'Save the Earth' bumper stickers. You do it by articulating a vision for the future and pursuing it with all the ingenuity humanity can muster.”

World Inspirational Earth Form Humanity Vision Hair Woods Shirts Changing The World Buying Hiding Indulgence Ingenuity Don't Change Bumper Muster Sticker Bumper Sticker Articulating

Author:Alex Steffen

“Urban retrofitting: creating different sorts of spaces and uses out of places that are already there.”

Different Use Inspiration Motivation Space Creating Urban

Author:Alex Steffen

“It's not just enough to survive. We've got to make something better than what we've got.”

Enough Something Better

Author:Alex Steffen

“Optimism is a political act. Those who benefit from the status quo are perfectly happy for us to think nothing is going to get any better. In fact, these days, cynicism is obedience.”

Thinking Facts Political Benefits Optimism Obedience These Days Cynicism Status Quo

Author:Alex Steffen

“There is no such thing as garbage, just useful stuff in the wrong place.”

Author:Alex Steffen

“To be young and aware is to know you’re being lied to; to know that a bright green future is possible; to know that we can reimagine the world, rebuild our cities, redesign our lives, retool our factories, distribute innovation and creativity and all live in a world that is not only better than the alternative, but much better than the world we have now.”

Knows World Young Cities Creativity Our Lives Innovation Green Alternatives Factories Lied Be Young Creativity And Innovation Being Lied Redesign

Author:Alex Steffen

“Powerful people doing bad things LIKE cynical, despairing citizens.”

People Powerful Citizens Bad Things Cynical

Author:Alex Steffen

“There’s more to being an environmentalist than occasionally signing an online petition and mailing your check to the Sierra Club. Really the most effective environmental actions you can take have to do with crafting your home and surroundings, your workplace decisions and your investment habits.”

Home Action Work Decision Habit Investment Environmental Clubs Checks Online Workplace Surroundings Signing Environmentalist Petitions Sierra Mailing

Author:Alex Steffen

About the Author

Born: 1968
Known for: Author
Quotes: 33

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