19487 quotes by writers for you to enjoy

The Awa are a distinctive-looking, diminutive forest people, smaller than any of the dozen other Amazon tribespeople I have met. Reduced size is adaptive in a rain forest. You can move around more easily and unobtrusively. Not only humans but other species are smaller in rain forests. Alex Shoumatoff

'Ecological sensitivity' is not the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Donald Trump. He doesn't even believe in global warming. But this is because he is a city boy. Alex Shoumatoff

If the world were an orange with 18 segments meeting at the top (the North Pole), roughly 8 of them would be in Russia, Canada would have 4, Denmark 2, and Norway, Sweden, and the U.S. just one apiece. Only a sliver of Alaska, on the Beaufort Sea, lies above the Arctic Circle. Alex Shoumatoff

World Circle Meeting Top Sliver Would Would-Be Lies Russia Above Arctic Only Segments Pole Were Denmark Canada North Orange North Pole Just Norway Just One Them Apiece Sweden Sea Roughly Alaska

The global climate is a complex interactive system, with all kinds of nonlinear feedback loops. Alex Shoumatoff

Feedback Complex System Kinds Global Loops Climate Nonlinear Interactive

As technology keeps improving, the price of oil keeps rising, and the ice keeps melting, Arctic energy is bound to be an increasingly bigger part of the global mix. Alex Shoumatoff

Technology Energy Increasingly Melting Rising Arctic Price Part Bound Global Mix Improving Oil Bigger Ice Keeps

The usual way of growing cotton is highly petrochemical-intensive, requiring 110 pounds of nitrogen fertilizer per acre. Some of the fertilizer is broken down by soil bacteria into nitrate, a toxic and highly soluble chemical that can leach into groundwater or get washed into lakes, creating oxygenless dead zones. Alex Shoumatoff

Broken Soil Down Way Nitrogen Bacteria Some Per Cotton Pounds Highly Toxic Dead Chemical Fertilizer Get Lakes Acre Creating Requiring Usual Washed Growing Zone

In my travels, I have encountered cranes on three continents. Alex Shoumatoff

Three Continents Encountered Travels

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. Alex Steffen

Animal Water Plant Soil Will Weather Long Diversity Pay Our Resources Air Earth Mineral Stay Clean Clean Air Dividends Survives May Human Predictable Race Human Race Even Species Extend

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. Alex Steffen

Together People Care Think Once Civic See About Ongoing More Networks New Protest Advocacy Issues Model Get Get Together Going Where Sustained Which While Engagement Communities Start

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. Alex Steffen

People Compassion Internet Understanding Sense Community Group Our Our Community More More People Most Greater Leaves Leaving Lot Up Ends Place Us Who Connected Using Larger Actually

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. Alex Steffen

We don't need a War on Carbon. We need a new prosperity that can be shared by all while still respecting a multitude of real ecological limits - not just atmospheric gas concentrations, but topsoil depth, water supplies, toxic chemical concentrations, and the health of ecosystems, including the diversity of life they depend upon. Alex Steffen

Life War Health Water Prosperity Diversity Depend Respecting Atmospheric Ecological Shared Supplies New Ecosystems Toxic Chemical Real Limits Still Just While Depth Including Multitude Carbon Gas Need

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

Job Pedestrian Focused Remarkable Done Creating Copenhagen Streets

Make no mistake: Tackling climate change is vital. But to see everything through the lens of short-term CO2 reductions, letting our obsession with carbon blind us to the bigger picture, is to court catastrophe. Alex Steffen

Change Mistake Picture Our Everything See Vital Tackling Through Catastrophe Obsession Blind Make Make No Mistake Court Climate Climate Change Reductions Bigger Bigger Picture Short-Term Lens Us CO2 Carbon Letting

When the Internet really first started to hit, people felt this would be the death blow: after suburbs and long commutes and television and the death of the family dinner, this would be the last straw that would totally break society. Alex Steffen

We don't need more recycling, we need a completely different system of closed-loop manufacturing, and no matter how many cans I crush, my personal actions at the consumer level are of very little importance in getting us there. 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. Alex Steffen

Best Together Heart People Problems Face About New Ideas Massive New Ideas Very Them Using Bringing Applying

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. Alex Steffen

Technology Change Generation People Internet Important Think Gigantic Factor Generation Gap Terms Understand How How Much Social Social Change Much Gap

The biggest thing growing cities need to do is minimize barriers to development so that as long as someone is doing good urbanism, they can get permitted quickly and get building quickly. Alex Steffen

Good Long Building Minimize Cities Someone Development Permitted Doing Doing Good Quickly Get Biggest Biggest Thing Barriers Growing Thing Need

If we're talking about transportation, the best thing a city can do is densify as quickly as it can. That needs to be said every time this issue comes up, because it's the only universal strategy that works. Alex Steffen

Time Best Needs Strategy Every Every Time City About Only Talking Because Said Issue Up Quickly Transportation Works Thing Universal

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. Alex Steffen

Pour Energy Creation Resources Cities Systems Responsible About Percentage Vast Vast Majority Economy Also Majority Built How Huge Where Happen Which Etc Decisions Places Products Designed

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

You Balance Releasing Out Emissions Simply Either Means Carbon Zero

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. Alex Steffen

Change Worth Important Building Important Things Energy Our Those Cities Impacts About Consumption Sharing Goods Most Talking Buildings How Priority Provide Green The Most Important Etc Patterns Transit Use Choose Transportation Actions Things Fraction Need

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