Alex Steffen Quotes

Quotes about:

• We get so little news about the developing world that we often forget that there are literally millions of people out there struggling to change things to be fairer, freer, more democratic, less corrupt.

  Alex Steffen

  Struggle, People, News

  "The route to a sustainable future". TED Talk, www.ted.com. July 2005.

  45 Copy quote

• Deep walkability describes a city that is built in such a way that you can move from one area to another on foot, on bicycle, on transit and have an experience that remains a pleasant one, that you feel you are welcome not just in the neighborhood but moving between neighborhoods.

  Alex Steffen

  Moving, Cities, Feet

  "Alex Steffen on Carbon-Zero Cities". Interview with Theresa Riley, billmoyers.com. March 19, 2013.

  24 Copy quote

• 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.

  Alex Steffen

  Thinking, Optimism, Political

  "The Bright Green City". Interview with Arnie Cooper, www.thesunmagazine.org. April 2010.

  17 Copy quote

• To be young and aware is to know you’re being lied to; to know that a bright green future is possible; to know that we can reimagine the world, rebuild our cities, redesign our lives, retool our factories, distribute innovation and creativity and all live in a world that is not only better than the alternative, but much better than the world we have now.

  Alex Steffen

  Creativity, Cities, Innovation

  9 Copy quote

• By looking at climate change as a clean energy generation problem, we're setting ourselves up not to solve it.

  Alex Steffen

  Energy, Climate, Generations

  4 Copy quote

• The planet's biggest problems have to do with sustainability, environmental decline, global poverty, disease, conflict and so forth. Really, they're all interconnected - it's one big problem, which is that the way we're doing things can't go on.

  Alex Steffen

  Environmental, Goes On, Disease

  CNN Interview, www.cnn.com. March 11, 2008.

  4 Copy quote

• Urban retrofitting: creating different sorts of spaces and uses out of places that are already there.

  Alex Steffen

  Motivation, Inspiration, Creating

  14 Copy quote

• There is no such thing as garbage, just useful stuff in the wrong place.

  Alex Steffen

  Stuff, Garbage

  4 Copy quote

• Powerful people doing bad things LIKE cynical, despairing citizens.

  Alex Steffen

  Powerful, People, Cynical

  4 Copy quote

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

  Alex Steffen

  Zero, Mean, Balance

  "Alex Steffen on Carbon-Zero Cities". Interview with Theresa Riley, billmoyers.com. March 19, 2013.

  4 Copy quote

• There's no law of physics that says we have to be an unsustainable society - in fact, quite the opposite. The planet's ready to work with us if we're ready to think differently, but we do have to make that jump and start to do things in new ways.

  Alex Steffen

  Thinking, Law, Opposites

  4 Copy quote

• 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

  Thinking, Issues, People

  "Is the Internet the future of community?". The CNN Interview, www.cnn.com. March 11, 2008.

  6 Copy quote

• 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

  Inspirational, Hair, Humanity

  "The Next Green Revolution" by Alex Steffen, www.wired.com. May 1, 2006.

  4 Copy quote

• 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, Race, Air

  "The Next Green Revolution" by Alex Steffen, www.wired.com. May 1, 2006.

  5 Copy quote

• Cities generate most of the global economy, and most of its energy use, resource demands and climate emissions. How we build cities over the next decades will largely determine whether we can deliver a bright green future.

  Alex Steffen

  Cities, Energy, Climate

  4 Copy quote

• 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, Thinking, People

  Interview, edition.cnn.com. March 11, 2008.

  22 Copy quote

• 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

  Talking, Cities, Impact

  7 Copy quote

• Our cities need to change, fast. Tactical Urbanism is a guided tour of solutions created when local people decide they can't wait for politics to catch up before they improve their neighborhoods. This weathervane book deserves a place on any urbanist's bookshelf.

  Alex Steffen

  Book, Cities, People

  5 Copy quote

• There’s more to being an environmentalist than occasionally signing an online petition and mailing your check to the Sierra Club. Really the most effective environmental actions you can take have to do with crafting your home and surroundings, your workplace decisions and your investment habits.

  Alex Steffen

  Work, Home, Decision

  "On green building, urban development, and reviving rural America". Interview with David Roberts, grist.org. September 1, 2005.

  4 Copy quote

• It's not just enough to survive. We've got to make something better than what we've got.

  Alex Steffen

  Enough, Something Better

  4 Copy quote

• The denser places get, the lower the amount of energy people use to get around it.

  Alex Steffen

  People, Energy, Use

  "SXSW Eco: Sustainability And The Carbon Zero City, By The Numbers" by Lynne Peeples, www.huffingtonpost.com. October 6, 2011.

  4 Copy quote

• 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

  Heart, Ideas, People

  Interview, www.cnn.com. March 11, 2008.

  4 Copy quote

• 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

  Cities, Decision, Energy

  "Alex Steffen on Carbon-Zero Cities". Interview with Theresa Riley, billmoyers.com. March 19, 2013.

  4 Copy quote

• 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

  Compassion, People, Community

  "Is the Internet the future of community?". The CNN Interview, www.cnn.com. March 11, 2008.

  4 Copy quote

• If mass media, social isolation in the suburbs, alienating workplaces and long car commutes create a bunker mentality, the Internet does the opposite.

  Alex Steffen

  Media, Opposites, Long

  "Is the Internet the future of community?". The CNN Interview, www.cnn.com. March 11, 2008.

  9 Copy quote

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