Metaphors & SoundbitesTags:urgency
"What are going to develop that replaces Iowa?" — Bill McKibben responding to a conservative who thinks we can adapt to climate change.
"It’s all a game of odds. We’ve never been here before. We just know two things: one, the CO2 we put into the atmosphere stays there for man ...
A hundred years from now, looking back, the only question that will appear important about the historical moment in which we now live is the ...
"...History will not judge us by how much economic growth we achieve in the immediate years ahead, nor by how much we expand material consum ...
"Over Earth’s history, ocean life has recovered from numerous sudden extinction episodes by adaptation and evolution of new species, but the ...
"We're headed toward this cliff, and instead of taking our foot off the gas we're stepping on the pedal."—Scott Mandia.
"Think of Earth's climate as a drunk: When left alone, it sits; when forced to move, it staggers." —Dr Richard Alley.
"The climate system is an angry beast, and we're poking it with sticks."
— Walter Broecker, the climate science pioneer who unco ...
"Mother Nature is just chemistry, biology and physics. That's all she is. You cannot sweet-talk her. You cannot spin her. You cannot tell he ...
"Global warming will very probably unleash unstoppable planetary forces. And they will not be gradual. The history of our planet’s climate s ...
"Anyone who hears this: your job for the rest of your life is to make the impossible possible."—Dave Roberts (Grist).
There’s no “STOP” button. There’s no emergency brake. Think of our climate system as an enormous tanker with a world’s worth of momentum beh ...
“The prospect of extreme climate change and its potentially devastating economic and social consequences are of great concern to the insuran ...
"Last month, more than 70 European companies, including Ikea and Coca Cola, asked the European Union to aim for more ambitious carbon cuts." ...
Climate change is "a significant investment risk for the foreseeable future".
'Scientists say, when it comes to climate change, we need to manage what is unavoidable and avoid what is unmanageable.' — Thomas Friedman, ...
"To do nothing when the situation is changing rapidly is not a conservative thing to do." — Spencer R. Weart from his book, The Discovery of ...
Evangelical Christians acknowledge that we live in God's world. Acting from love of God and Jesus Christ, Christians act to protect the natu ...
"To my free enterprise colleagues -- especially conservatives here -- (if) you think it's all a bunch of hooey, the Chinese don't." — conser ...
Why is climate action so important? Because there is no 'Planet B.'
"This past month, I spent more beer & pistachios than I did on gas & electric. And I am not a big drinker. It’s amazing how much (solar) c ...
Fossil fuel industry is the only industry on earth throwing its waste out for free. If you run a restaurant, you have to pay someone to car ...
Want your kids skiing down the bunny slope or the triple black diamond expert slope? This is our choice for reducing our global carbon emis ...
"Are we going to go down in history as the people who saved the bankers and let the biosphere go down?" —George Monbiot
In order to prevent climate change, the world has to switch from high-carbon, polluting, power generation; to new, low-carbon generating cap ...
'(Contrarians) seem “certain” the world’s scientists are wrong, and spewing 90 million tons per day of man-made (CO2) pollution into the atm ...
Reject climate change? "Make sure to say that very publicly, because I want our grandchildren to read what you said and what I said." - Bob ...
'If you dismiss all climate science as a hoax, I can’t help you. That’s between you & your beach house — and your kids, whose future you’re ...
As Earth's oceans warm and become more acidic, ocean creatures including pteropods are undergoing severe stress. They are harbingers of chan ...
The faster Arctic ice melts and the more open sea is revealed, the more heat that becomes available to melt the remaining ice and heat up th ...
"This generation has altered the composition of the atmosphere on a global scale through...a steady increase in carbon dioxide from the burn ...
"A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus."—Martin Luther King.
Climate change increases the odds for extreme weather. Like playing Russian Roulette, while adding more and more bullets to a revolver. Yo ...
Climate change is like a train: it starts slowly, but it’s awfully hard to stop once it gains a bit of momentum.
We burn fossil fuels a million times faster than nature created them. Sooner or later, we will run out. — inspired by Dr. Richard Alley on ...
"It's not enough to care; we must link our concern to each other & act collectively...'1,000 stallions unconnected cannot move a baby carria ...
Climate change is an emergency happening in slow-motion. (Variations: A slo-mo train wreck or catastrophe.)
"We're in a giant car headed for a brick wall and everyone is arguing over where they want to sit." - David Suzuki
Some people ignore a suspicious lump in their body, hoping it will go away. When they eventually go to the doctor -- because of night sweat ...
"If ten people told you your house was on fire, you would call the fire department. You wouldn’t really care whether some of them thought th ...
"The excess CO2 that is pumped into the air today will affect our planet for thousands of years into the future. I am not an alarmist, but I ...
Alarmed by Hurricane Sandy’s destruction and the current drought? Warning: Mother Nature is now imposing ‘an extreme weather tax.’
“Climate change is a threat to our freedoms. If you're a Great Plains rancher or a farmer, your freedom is enormously constrained by the fa ...
Since 1950, the global percentage of dry areas has increased by about 1.74% of global land area per decade. That is 1.74% compounding intere ...
"The paleoclimate record shouts out to us that, far from being self-stabilising, the Earth's climate system is an ornery beast which overrea ...
"Under pressure from climate stress even the most robust constitutional democracy may find its character threatened. Faced with more stress ...
"Congressman, set aside climate change, you realize that...things I suggested will help us be a lot more resilient against terrorism or oil ...
It's hard to change habits, especially when the most harmful consequences lie in the distant future. Try convincing a teenager to stop smok ...
We're like the overweight patient that goes to the doctor and learns his cholesterol is too high. He doesn't die immediately—but until he ch ...
Telling the inhabitants of a coral that island that they're safe because sea level won't rise, is like a doctor telling a smoker, "stop worr ...
Continued release of greenhouse gases is like playing "Russian Roulette with the climate, hoping that the future will hold no unpleasant sur ...
Saying ‘we won’t do anything until China does’ is like saying ’We won’t protect free speech until China does.’ — Senator Barbara Boxer, Cali ...
"When we look at the last 4 decades, we've seen 0.5°C global warming. Some people say, 'well that's not much!' Then I tell them to think o ...
Climate change is not a "cocktail hour curiosity." It is a very dangerous threat. Our climate system is an angry beast and we are poking i ...
"(Climate Change) is ultimately an argument of humans vs. physics. It is not Republicans vs. Democrats, liberals vs conservatives, or envir ...
Saying global warming isn't real because last winter was cold and snowy, is like saying that spring's not happening because Friday was coole ...
"You never have 100% certainty in anything. If you wait for 100% certainty on the battlefield, something bad is going to happen." — Vice Ad ...
"A wait and see policy may mean waiting until it is too late." — 1979 National Academy of Sciences report, Carbon Dioxide and Climate: A Sc ...
The 'Tropic of Chaos'; the band encircling the middle of the globe between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, where already-d ...
"We are dependent on the natural world for the very air we breathe and every particle of food we eat. Many people, including me, would say w ...
Sure, the climate always changes—just like asteroids have always hit the Earth. But does that mean that a big asteroid hitting the Earth tod ...