54 Inspirational & Shocking Quotes on Climate Change

words that melt glaciers and freeze indifference

"the earth is not dying, it is being killed"" and those who are killing it have names and addresses."

"Utah Phillips

Hold that quote in your mouth like a live coal.

Below are 53 more—some soft as monsoon drizzle, others sharp as cracked ice beneath polar bear paws.

Read them slowly; let each one inhale you before you exhale it into the world.

I. The Bell-Toll (scientific sirens)

1. "We are the first generation to feel the impact of climate change and the last that can do something about it." "Barack Obama
2. "The world is reaching the tipping point beyond which climate change may become irreversible." "Kofi Annan
3. "By polluting the oceans, not mitigating COâ‚‚ emissions, and destroying biodiversity, we are killing our planet. Let us face it, there is no planet B." "Emmanuel Macron
4. "The global warming debate is over. The science is clear." "Arnold Schwarzenegger
5. "Our planet's alarm is going off, and it is time to wake up and take action!" "Leonardo DiCaprio
6. "What we are doing to the forests of the world is but a mirror reflection of what we are doing to ourselves." "Chris Maser
7. "Sooner or later, we will have to recognise that the Earth has rights, too." "Evo Morales
8. "A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself." "Franklin D. Roosevelt
9. "If insects were to vanish, the environment would collapse into chaos." "E. O. Wilson
10. "To waste, to destroy our natural resources"¦ will result in undermining in the days of our children the very prosperity which we ought to hand down amplified." "Theodore Roosevelt

II. Throat of Hope (because despair is not a policy)

11. "Fortunately, nature is amazingly resilient"¦ endangered species can be given a second chance." "Jane Goodall
12. "Hope is telling the truth. Hope is taking action." "Greta Thunberg
13. "It's important for me to have hope because that's my job as a parent." "James Cameron
14. "We must connect the dots between climate change, water scarcity, energy shortages"¦ Solutions to one problem must be solutions for all." "Ban Ki-moon
15. "We won't have a society if we destroy the environment." "Margaret Mead
16. "Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed." "Mahatma Gandhi
17. "Environment is no one's property to destroy; it's everyone's responsibility to protect." "Mohith Agadi
18. "What is the use of a house if you haven't got a tolerable planet to put it on?" "Henry David Thoreau
19. "We don't have to sacrifice a strong economy for a healthy environment." "Dennis Weaver
20. "Forests are the world's air-conditioning system—the lungs of the planet—and we are on the verge of switching it off." "King Charles III

III. Knife-Edge Truth (feel the blade)

21. "Climate change is the single greatest threat to the rights of children." "Desmond Tutu
22. "We are living on this planet as if we had another one to go to." "Terry Swearingen
23. "The earth is a fine place and worth fighting for." "Ernest Hemingway
24. "One reason we resist change is that we are addicted to comfort." "Dr. James Hansen
25. "You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you." "Jane Goodall
26. "Climate change is not a distant threat—it is already costing us." "Hillary Clinton
27. "Denial is not a policy." "Al Gore
28. "The technology is here. The economics are here. The only thing missing is the politics." "Bill McKibben
29. "We are in the middle of the sixth mass extinction." "Elizabeth Kolbert
30. "The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it." "Robert Swan

IV. Youth on Fire (Generation Greta)

31. "Our house is on fire. I am here to say our house is on fire." "Greta Thunberg
32. "I don't want your hope. I want you to panic." "Greta Thunberg
33. "You are never too small to make a difference." "Greta Thunberg
34. "We can no longer let the people in power decide what is politically possible." "Greta Thunberg
35. "The eyes of all future generations are upon you." "Greta Thunberg

V. Indigenous Wisdom (original instructions)

36. "We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children." "Native American proverb
37. "The earth does not belong to man; man belongs to the earth." "Chief Seattle
38. "When the last tree is cut, the last fish is caught, and the last river is polluted"¦ you will realize that you cannot eat money." "Cree prophecy
39. "The land is a mother that never dies." "Maori proverb
40. "Water is life's matter and matrix, mother and medium. There is no life without water." "Albert Szent-Györgyi

VI. Irony & Acid (laugh so you don't scream)

41. "We're running the most dangerous experiment in history right now, which is to see how much carbon dioxide the atmosphere can handle before there is an environmental catastrophe." "Elon Musk
42. "It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment." "Ansel Adams
43. "The planet will survive. We won't. The planet has been through worse." "George Carlin
44. "Climate change is like a medical disease; if you ignore the early symptoms, the later consequences are disastrous." "Atul Gawande
45. "The stone age didn't end for lack of stones, and the oil age won't end for lack of oil." "Sheikh Yamani

VII. Calloused Optimism (roll up sleeves)

46. "The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now." "Chinese proverb
47. "Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world." "Howard Zinn
48. "Change happens slowly, then suddenly." "Ernest Hemingway
49. "You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in a drop." "Rumi
50. "Another world is not only possible, she is on her way." "Arundhati Roy
51. "Do your little bit of good where you are; it is those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world." "Desmond Tutu
52. "The future will be green or not at all." "Bob Brown
53. "Sustainability is no longer about doing less harm. It's about doing more good." "Paul Polman
54. "We are the weather." "Jonathan Safran Foer

After-word

Copy the quote that stabbed you deepest.

Paste it on your mirror, your Twitter bio, your classroom door.

Let it follow you like a shadow until you answer with action"" a tree, a vote, a strike, a refusal to fly, a refusal to stay silent.

The atmosphere is a cathedral; every syllable we utter either sings or scars.

Choose the hymn. Choose the hammer.

But choose"" before the sky chooses for us.

—Huzi blogs.huzi.pk