bill-mckibben Quotes About climate

“I've always been opposed to population control. In climate terms, population is not the biggest problem going forward.”

Problem Term Climate Population Population Control

Author:Bill McKibben

“Because the financial power of the fossil-fuel industry is so great it can, and has, delayed any real action of the climate issues almost everywhere.”

Real Action Issues Industry Climate Financial Fuel Fossils Fossil Fuel Delayed

Author:Bill McKibben

“In reality, climate change is actually the biggest thing thats going on every single day.”

Reality Climate Climate Change

Author:Bill McKibben

“My goal was to have as many of the primary sources as I could made available for people to look at and understand. Climate change is probably the most important thing that's ever happened, and yet people's understanding of it and its history remains a little fuzzy.”

People Looks Littles Made Important Understanding Goal Happened Source Remains Important Things Climate Climate Change Available Primaries Fuzzy Primary Source

Author:Bill McKibben

“We finally know where the red line for climate really is. After the rapid melt of arctic ice in the summer of 2007, our best scientists, led by NASA's Jim Hansen, went back to work and produced a series of papers showing that with more than 350 ppm (parts per million) of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, we couldn't have a planet "similar to the one on which civilization developed and to which life on earth is adapted."”

Knows Earth Lines Millions Planets Civilization Paper Summer Red Scientist Series Climate Ice Atmosphere Carbon Papers Rapids Adapted Nasa Arctic Carbon Dioxide Back To Work Red Lines

Author:Bill McKibben

“That's when the vast consensus of the world's climatologists, brought together by the UN and The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, really announced that this was going on, and since then the accumulation of data and wickedly hot years has served to only congeal that consensus much more firmly.”

World Years Together Hot Climate Climate Change Data Consensus Accumulation

Author:Bill McKibben

“All the science in the last few years, or almost all of it, really serves to show that the [climate] effects are larger and more rapid than we had thought even a decade ago.”

Years Shows Lasts Effects Climate Decades Rapids

Author:Bill McKibben

“The polling data shows not an unbelievable level of concern [on climate issue] but a general awareness of this problem. And now I think it's up to all sorts of people who really care about these things to continue on this new ground to try and make this the central political issue it needs to be.”

People Thinking Needs Trying Shows Problem Care Political Levels Issues Awareness Concern Climate Data Unbelievable Polling Political Issues

Author:Bill McKibben

“It is a complete embarrassment and literally shameful that the country that first of all invented environmentalism and gave it to the world, and second of all did all the science originally around climate and global warming and presented that to the world, has been the country that has refused to participate in a constructive way to the solution.”

World Way Firsts Has Beens Country Solutions Climate Global Warming Constructive Embarrassment Environmentalism Shameful

Author:Bill McKibben

“[Political actions] has to happen on the local and state level; we have to convince our cities to join the growing number of more than 200 American cities who have signed on to the mayor's climate campaign.”

States Happens Action Political Levels Numbers Cities Growing Climate Campaigns Locals Convince Mayors American Cities Political Action

Author:Bill McKibben

“Policies that engage us again in the international fight for real climate protection.”

Real Fighting Policy Climate International Protection

Author:Bill McKibben

“I think that some of it is electoral - helping candidates that are willing to take dramatic actions, not just to say a few words about how climate change might be a problem.”

Thinking Helping Problem Might Action Willing Climate Climate Change Dramatic Candidates Few Words

Author:Bill McKibben

“I'm guessing the most efficient way would be to transfer an awful lot of technology, but also direct aid to deal with climate emergencies already underway. Hillary [Clinton] has already said $100 billion a year would be appropriate.”

Way Years Said Would Be Deals Technology Direct Clinton Climate Aids Billions Awful Appropriate Efficient Emergencies Transfers Guessing

Author:Bill McKibben

“The essential thing we need to understand is that the climate crisis is not some future threat, but a very present peril, the biggest one humans have ever encountered. Until we understand that, we'll dawdle.”

Needs Humans Essentials Crisis Threat Climate Peril

Author:Bill McKibben

“We'll never get there if we let the climate crisis bloom unchecked, so for the moment the key is to organize, organize, organize!”

Ifs Moments Keys Crisis Climate Organize

Author:Bill McKibben

“In the States, the movement's actually gotten much much much stronger. There really was no climate movement so to speak before that - I think because everybody assumed that reasonable heads would prevail and do the right thing - and why would you need to have a huge movement in order to cause our leaders to deal with the most serious problem that they face. In a rational world you wouldn't. They would deal with it.”

Thinking World Needs States Problem Faces Order Speak Causes Deals Leader Movement Serious Huge Stronger Climate Rational Right Thing Reasonable

Author:Bill McKibben

“In the States we've had by far the largest demonstrations in the last few years. The largest civil disobedience actions about anything in US history in the last 30 years have all been centred around the climate.”

Years States Action Lasts Climate Demonstration Disobedience Us History Civil Disobedience

Author:Bill McKibben

“Climate change is a huge problem, an almost insoluble problem.”

Problem Huge Climate Climate Change

Author:Bill McKibben

“Climate change is a huge problem, an almost insoluble problem, for two reasons. One is the habits of the West in terms of consumption. The other is the incredible iniquity between poor countries and rich countries on this planet.”

Two Country Reason Problem Term Poor Rich Planets Huge Habit West Climate Climate Change Incredibles Consumption Iniquity Poor Countries Rich Countries

Author:Bill McKibben

“I'm probably the wrong person to ask. My partner in much of this work [climate movement], who really came up with the divestment campaign with me, Naomi Klein, I think has written powerfully about this.”

Thinking Persons Asks Written Movement Climate Partners Campaigns Wrong Person

Author:Bill McKibben

“In the end, climate change is a math problem.”

Ends Problem Climate Climate Change Math Math Problems

Author:Bill McKibben

“To me the analogy [to climate change] is... doctors worry a lot about cholesterol. And if you go to the doctor, and the doctor says "oh, your life would be happier if you ate a different diet and exercised" people pay no attention.”

People Ifs Different Would Be Pay Attention Worry Doctors Climate Climate Change Diets Analogies Cholesterol

Author:Bill McKibben

“I don't know how to make people who absolutely have to be obsessed with paying a week's energy bills... obsessed with climate change... It's very hard.”

People Knows Hard Energy Know How Week Bills Climate Climate Change Obsessed

Author:Bill McKibben

“I don't spend a huge amount of time fixated on climate denial because I don't think that their objections, though sometimes couched in science, are based in science. I think they're based in ideology. And I don't think there's anything you can do.”

Thinking Sometimes Can Do Huge Amount Climate Ideology Denial Objections

Author:Bill McKibben

“The irony is that one of the things people want to solve climate change is more market - more price on carbon so that markets have something to chew on when they think about climate change instead of the complete monopoly, the absurdity of allowing these guys to own the sky for free - socialise all of the costs and privatise all of the profits.”

People Thinking Want Guy Sky Cost Climate Climate Change Profit Solve Irony Allowing Carbon Absurdity Monopoly

Author:Bill McKibben

“To me, it's more important to take the 60-70% of people who really understand that there's a problem [of climate change] and get some percentage of them active than to try and stamp out the last embers of pre-scientific thought.”

People Trying Important Problem Lasts Climate Climate Change Active Stamps Percentages Embers

Author:Bill McKibben

“The idea that China and India will just abandon climate action is not true, because they're doing it for more reasons than we are.”

Ideas Reason Action India Climate China Abandon Climate Action China And India

Author:Bill McKibben

“There hadn't really been a climate movement, per se. I think everyone spent twenty years thinking that if we just keep pointing out that the world is on the edge of the greatest crisis by far it's ever come to, then our leaders will do something about it. And it turned out that was wrong. They weren't going to do anything about it.”

Ifs Thinking World Years Leader Movement Twenties Crisis Climate Edges Pointing

Author:Bill McKibben

“But the truth is that we could win every other fight that we face and if we lose the climate fight, the other victories will be pyrrhic. I don't think even people who are worried about climate change quite understand the scale and speed with which we're now shifting the planet.”

People Ifs Thinking Faces Fighting Winning Loses Planets Victory Truth Is Climate Climate Change Speed Scales Worried Shifting

Author:Bill McKibben

“We're mathematically past the point where the accumulation of individual actions can add up quickly enough to make a difference. The individual action that actually matters is not being an individual. It's joining together with other people in groups large enough to change the political dynamic around climate change.”

People Matter Enough Action Together Past Political Individual Differences Groups Add Climate Climate Change Making A Difference Accumulation Joining Joining Together

Author:Bill McKibben

“There's no happy ending where we prevent climate change any more. Now the question is, is it going to be a miserable century or an impossible one, and what comes after that.”

Energy Environment Impossible Century Climate Climate Change Miserable Happy Endings

Author:Bill McKibben

“Remember...this year has already seen more billion-dollar weather-related disasters than any year in US history. Last year was the warmest ever recorded on planet Earth. Arctic sea ice is near all-time record lows. Record floods from Pakistan to Queensland to the Mississippi basin; record drought from the steppes of Russia to the plains of Texas...This is what climate change looks like in its early stages.”

“The ability to write compelling emails may be the single most useful talent an organizer can possess.”

Writing May Ability Talent Climate Compelling Email Organizer

Book:Fight Global Warming Now: The Handbook for Taking Action in Your Community

Source: Fight Global Warming Now: The Handbook for Taking Action in Your Community

“Climate change is the single biggest thing that humans have ever done on this planet. The one thing that needs to be bigger is our movement to stop it.”

Needs Humans Done One Thing Movement Planets Bigger Climate Climate Change

Author:Bill McKibben

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