We are 25 years too late. If the object is to avoid dangerous change, we've already had it. The object now is to avoid really dangerous change.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes that we have already experienced significant changes and now must focus on preventing further harmful changes.
Stephen Schneider's quote reflects a sense of urgency regarding the irreversible changes already precipitated by inaction. It suggests that instead of resisting change altogether, which may be futile, the focus should now shift to mitigating the potentially dire consequences of the changes we have allowed to occur. Schneider warns that the time for small adjustments has passed, and we must address the more significant threats that can arise from inaction.
In practice
In a speech about climate change, one might reference this quote to highlight the need for immediate action.
The dramatic importance of climate changes to the worldβs future has been dangerously underestimated by many, often because we have been lulled by modern technology into thinking we have conquered nature. This well-written book points out in clear language that the climatic threat could be as awesome as any we might face, and that massive world-wide actions to hedge against that threat deserve immediate consideration.
This 'double ethical bind' we frequently find ourselves in cannot be solved by any formula. Each of us has to decide what the right balance is between being effective and being honest. I hope that means being both.
The time has long since come for truth, transparency, and talks in every sector of society, including media, advertisement and entertainment. We can challenge each other, gain understanding, and create a more just, humane, and peaceful world.
I believe that the rights of women and girls is the unfinished business of the 21st century.
Blow the dust off the clock. Your watches are behind the times. Throw open the heavy curtains which are so dear to you - you do not even suspect that the day has already dawned outside.
For every reader who dies today, a viewer is born, and we seem to be witnessing . . . the final tipping balance.
It is time for blacks to begin the shift from a wartime to a peacetime identity, from fighting for opportunity to the seizing of it.
The moral imperative to make big changes is inescapable...that what we take for granted may not be here for our children
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