Quotes - Things they said

"Every time I pause to consider whether I have gone too far out on a limb, I look at the facts that continue to pour in from around the world and conclude that I have not gone nearly far enough" former vice-President Al Gore, in "Earth in the Balance"

"The forces for change facing the world could be so far-reaching, complex, and interactive that they call for nothing less than the re-education of human-kind."

Paul Kennedy in "Preparing for the 21st Century

"We don't need alternative cars; we need alternative to cars..." Richard Heinberg, author of "Peak Everything".

"The reality is simple: you can use land to feed cars or to feed people, but not both."

Mark Lynas, in "Six Degrees - our future on a hotter planet."

"We all share the exact same interest in doing the right thing on this.....Are we destined to destroy this place that we call home, planet earth? I can't believe that that's our destiny. It is not our destiny. But we have to awaken to the moral duty that we have to do the right thing and get out of this silly political game-playing about it. This is about survival." Al Gore,  31st March 2008

"When I see an adult on a bicycle, I have hope for the human race." H.G. Wells

"When you start to explore the issue, climate change is extremely scary. Indeed, if it isn't scary, then you really haven't understood it."

Rob Hopkins, in "The Transition Handbook"

"It borders on being morally unacceptable to spend hundreds of millions of pounds on bottled water when we have pure drinking water."

Phil Woolas, Environment Minister

"All of us - government, business, civil society and individuals - have a part to play in this momentous task.  Working apart we will surely fail, but working together I have no doubt that this is a challenge to which the human spirit and all our powers of ingenuity and enterprise will rise." Prime Minister Gordon Brown on climate change, 19th November 2007.

"If the next generation say to us 'daddy, what did you do about climate change' the answer we should give is that we stopped it, any other answer is unacceptable."Jonathan Essex, a steering committee member of the Campaign Against Climate Change

"Today is Earth Day, and I personally believe every day should be Earth Day. We have a duty to protect God's creation and we have a responsibility to repair the damage that we do as we go on in life."

Senator Hilary Clinton

"I have always thought that the substitution of the internal combustion engine for the horse marked a very gloomy milestone in the progress of mankind"

Winston Churchill, 1954

“Buying and selling carbon offsets is like pushing the food around on your plate to create the impression that you have eaten it.”

George Monbiot,  in  “Heat – How to Stop the Planet Burning”

"Just as social justice needed a new social contract in the 19th and 20th centuries so environmental security in the 21st century needs a new environmental contract. An environmental contract would have new and clear rights and responsibilities for Government, for business and for individuals, to balance what we take from nature and what we give back. The old system of ‘too much take and too little give' is bad for the planet, bad for business and bad for the most disadvantaged. The challenge we face is to marry economic growth, social justice, and environmental sustainability. They can and must go hand in hand. There will be difficult decisions along the way. But also huge synergies. A low carbon economy can be good for business, good for the environment, and good for all citizens."

David Miliband, Secretary of State for the Environment

'The environment must be centre of policy worldwide'

Gordon Brown M.P. Chancellor of the Exchequer

'We need a greater sense of urgency on climate change'

David Cameron M.P. Leader of Conservative Party

"I think from the point of view of the Conservative party pursuing the green line is all talk and no action at the moment......It's part of the current process in the Conservative party of giving green issues prominence and taking up some pretty strange positions on some things I think......When push comes to shove in the general election I suspect we will roll back from some of this."  Caroline Jackson, Conservative MEP, 18/4/06

"There is no longer any serious doubt that climate change is real, accelerating and caused by human activities."

Bill Clinton, Former US President, at the December 2005 Montreal UN Summit.

"If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's a duck." Harlan Watson, chief US climate negotiator, trying to duck his responsibility at the UN Montreal talks.

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius, and a lot of courage, to move in the opposite direction." Albert Einstein

“It is important to understand that Africa and climate change are intrinsically linked, as climate change will affect the welfare of Africans for years to come.” Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

"We need nuclear power like a hole in the head."

Michael Meacher, Former Labour Environment Minister

"I have been asked a question many a time, "Who is your hero?" I say,my hero does not depend on the position a person occupies. My heroes are those simple men and women who have committed to fighting poverty wherever that is to be found in the world."

Nelson Mandela.

“I only hope the government’s campaign on making poverty history is a great deal more successful than Labour’s eight years of abject failure to cut carbon emissions and fight climate change.”

Bill Wiggins shadow Minister for the Environment.

Tony Juniper, vice-chair,

Friends of the Earth International.

“We all moan and groan about the loss of quality of life through the destruction of our ecology, and yet each of us, in our little comfortable ways, contributes daily to that destruction. It’s time now to awaken in each one of us, the respect and attention our beloved mother deserves.” Ed Asner