“Combating climate change cannot be the work of governments alone. Citizens, especially the next generation, you have to keep raising your voices, because you deserve to live your lives in a world that is cleaner and that is healthier and that is sustainable. But that is not going to happen unless you are heard. It is in the nature of things, it is in the nature of the world that those of us who start getting gray hair are a little set in our ways, that interests are entrenched”

—  Barack Obama

2014, Queensland University Address (November 2014)
Context: As we develop, as we focus on our econ, we cannot forget the need to lead on the global fight against climate change. [... ] Here in the Asia Pacific, nobody has more at stake when it comes to thinking about and then acting on climate change. Here, a climate that increases in temperature will mean more extreme and frequent storms, more flooding, rising seas that submerge Pacific islands. Here in Australia, it means longer droughts, more wildfires. The incredible natural glory of the Great Barrier Reef is threated. Worldwide, this past summer was the hottest on record. No nation is immune, and every nation has a responsibility to do its part. [... ] We are mindful of the great work that still has to be done on this issue. But let me say, particularly again to the young people here: Combating climate change cannot be the work of governments alone. Citizens, especially the next generation, you have to keep raising your voices, because you deserve to live your lives in a world that is cleaner and that is healthier and that is sustainable. But that is not going to happen unless you are heard. It is in the nature of things, it is in the nature of the world that those of us who start getting gray hair are a little set in our ways, that interests are entrenched -- not because people are bad people, it’s just that’s how we’ve been doing things. And we make investments, and companies start depending on certain energy sources, and change is uncomfortable and difficult. And that’s why it’s so important for the next generation to be able to step and say, no, it doesn’t have to be this way. You have the power to imagine a new future in a way that some of the older folks don’t always have.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Sept. 30, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Combating climate change cannot be the work of governments alone. Citizens, especially the next generation, you have to…" by Barack Obama?
Barack Obama photo
Barack Obama 1158
44th President of the United States of America 1961

Related quotes

Barack Obama photo
Miguel Ángel Alba Díaz photo

“Work for the construction of a more just society, where there are job opportunities for all and fair wages, to avoid the temptation to get easy money. You have to raise your voice: we must not get used to living in a climate of violence, this leads to indifference.”

Miguel Ángel Alba Díaz (1951) Mexican Roman Catholic bishop

Source: Corrupt policemen and climate of mistrust, the Bishop of La Paz denounces the silence of the authorities http://fides.org/en/news/36508-AMERICA_MEXICO_Corrupt_policemen_and_climate_of_mistrust_the_Bishop_of_La_Paz_denounces_the_silence_of_the_authorities (9 October 2014)

Jordan Peterson photo

“It took untold generations to get you where you are. A little gratitude might be in order. If you’re going to insist on bending the world to your way, you better have your reasons.”

12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, Rule 9: Assume that the person you are listening to might know something you don't

Theodore Roosevelt photo

“There are two things that I want you to make up your minds to: first, that you are going to have a good time as long as you live – I have no use for the sour-faced man – and next, that you are going to do something worthwhile, that you are going to work hard and do the things you set out to do.”

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, 26th president of the United States

Talk to schoolchildren in Oyster Bay, Christmastime (1898), as quoted in The Bully Pulpit : A Teddy Roosevelt Book of Quotations (2002) by H. Paul Jeffers, p. 22
1890s

Mwanandeke Kindembo photo
Jordan Peterson photo
Haruki Murakami photo
Abigail Thorn photo
George Soros photo
Sadhguru photo

Related topics