10 Quotes That Highlight the Role of Personal Responsibility in Fighting Climate Crisis
Written by - Erin Belknap
We know that meaningful solutions to climate change need to come from higher up-- our governments, our corporations and our social institutions. Environmental regulations, corporate sustainability, and the economic transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy will be critical as we move forward. But none of that erases the importance of personal responsibility. Our decisions, behaviors, and habits matter, too.
There is plenty we can do as individuals: We can be sustainable in our own homes. We can educate ourselves about climate change and raise awareness among our friends and families. We can actively participate in improving our communities. We can communicate with leaders and decision makers to make our voices heard. We can be mindful with our time and our money. We can contribute our skills and talents to organizations or projects we care about. Each of us can lay a brick on the path forward...and though every brick will look a little different, they will all lead us to a healthier, more sustainable place.
Depreciating the importance of individual responsibility would be a disservice to our society and our planet as a whole. Individually we matter. Collectively we are powerful. Let’s always remember this, even when it feels like our personal efforts are washed away by the immensity of the challenges we face. In this spirit, here are ten quotes to reinvigorate your commitment to personal responsibility with respect to climate change and its effects:
“This is the new politics: personal responsibility. Not leaving it to others. I am my planet's keeper.” - Hilary Benn, Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
“Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.” - Edmund Burke, Irish Philosopher
“The solutions of tomorrow are not stashed behind the walls of bureaucracy or political halls. They are in the minds of engineers, designers, innovators, researchers, environmentalists, geographers and other spirited individuals.” - Stuart Barea, 18, high school student
“The human race is challenged more than ever before to demonstrate our mastery, not over nature but of ourselves.” - Rachel Carson
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” - Margaret Mead
“We need to make growth greener, to make our economic and environmental policies more compatible and even mutually-reinforcing. This is not just a matter of new technologies or new sources of renewable, safe energy. It is about how we all behave every day of our lives, what we eat, what we drink, what we recycle, re-use, repair, how we produce and how we consume.” - Angel Gurria, OECD Secretary-General
“The principle of common but differentiated responsibilities is the bedrock of our enterprise for a sustainable world.” - Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India
“Adopting the bold stance involved in restoration work can catalyze a different kind of transformation. By becoming active partners in regenerating the health of their localities--and, in a less dramatic way, of the Earth as a whole--people start to reverse the soul-numbing patterns of exploiting and abusing the source of so many life-sustaining gifts. They also begin to release the often-repressed, but nonetheless crippling, emotions--guilt and shame, grief and despair, loneliness and powerlessness--associated with going along with the relentless machinery of corporate consumer culture.” - Elan Shapiro, environmental lecturer and activist
“We don’t need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly. We need millions of people doing it imperfectly.” - Anne Marie Bonneau, Zero Waste Chef
“We're never going to scare people into living more sustainably! We have to be able to demonstrate just how dynamic and aspirational such a world could be.” - Jonathon Porritt
