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.
Here are some succinct quotes I’ve collected from my readings and travels.
“I must do something” always solves more problems than “Something must be done.”
“You have not fully expressed your power as a voter until you have a scientific literacy in topics that matter for future political issues. This requires a level, a base level of science literacy that I don’t think we have achieved yet.”
Whatever you’re meant to do, do it now. The conditions are always impossible.
There would be very little point in my exhausting myself in trying to protect animals and habitats if we weren’t at the same time raising young people to be better stewards.
It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, who is poor.
I’m lazy. But it’s the lazy people who invented the wheel and the bicycle because they didn’t like walking or carrying things.
If we don’t change direction soon, we’ll end up where we’re going.
I cannot say whether things will get better if we change; what I can say is they must change if they are to get better.
To give up the task of reforming society is to give up one’s responsibility as a free man.
Recent Discussions
- “Selling” Social Change
Getting people to help out on a project, to support a bill in the legislature or to join an organization requires good communication. How does your communication add up? Can you make a “killer” pitch for your idea?
- The climate is changing, but how should we?
While we wait for the “big boys” to act (or not) at their annual conferences in far flung locales, there is much we can be doing on the local level to reduce carbon emissions and address the changes wrought by a changing climate. But what should we do first?
- Cooling our cities: how?
Even if the world were to stop burning fossil fuels tomorrow, the momentum of rising global temperature caused by too much carbon in the atmosphere demands on the ground responses if we are to keep our cities livable. How can we cool our cities and keep them healthy?
- More bikes, healthier planet: but how to get there?
Bicycle use is experiencing a resurgence in much of the world – even the French are riding! In the USA bicycling is on the cusp of even greater growth, rating the attacks of House Republicans who eliminated funding in the latest transportation bill. Yet, most cities still are hostile to experienced riders much less the average person. What do you find that works to give this affordable, convenient, healthy transportation option a leg up?
Discussion Categories
- Active Citizenship
- Bicycle Advocacy
- Changemaking
- City Planning
- Climate Change
- Energy Management
- Healthy Cities
- Non-car Mobility
- Sustainable Economy
- Vital Urban Communities
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