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 world’s 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.
I learned very quickly that when you emigrate, you lose the crutches that have been your support; you must begin from zero, because the past is erased with a single stroke and no one cares where you’re from or what you did before.
For time and the world do not stand still. Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future.
If we are going to realise our ambition of ending the harmful practices of FGM and forced marriage, the role of young people in pushing for change is crucial. We also need to ensure that everyone, from government to civil society, is playing their part.
We have the ability to completely change our environment to go... to take on... to inherit, in a certain sense, things far beyond our DNA, and that's inheritable. And we can see evolution in action as our ideas evolve and undergo a kind of Darwinian selection not at the DNA level. And we can go off into space.
Empowering women isn’t just the right thing to do - it’s the smart thing to do.
Our aim is not to die. It is to carry out the revolution, to make a reality of our ideas. We must live, to get them accepted by the people.
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