Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
If we are to candidly and comprehensively address climate change - which I believe is the true crisis of our time - we must find new ways to generate energy and fuel.
Faced with global challenges, politicians like Donald Trump have played on the fears and concerns of the American people with divisive, hateful rhetoric and proposals.
As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump promised to 'fix the rigged system.' By 'fix,' he apparently meant rigging it to permanently benefit billionaires like himself.
Trump has become the star of our 24-hour political news cycle, and every pundit in America seems to be grabbing for some of the reflected light from his explosive campaign.
Investing in more fossil fuel infrastructure will not strengthen our economy over the long-term, since the market is clearly indicating that clean energy sources are the future.
The most sacred duty of the President of the United States of America is to defend and protect the Constitution and the principles it enshrines: freedom, fairness, and equality.
We agree that Citizens United is a very bad decision. We don't believe outspending your opponent is the way to go, since we don't believe we will ever be outspending our opponents!
As a Californian, I feel lucky to live in what is truly the Golden State - a place of sunshine, agricultural bounty, natural beauty, technological innovation, and boundless optimism.
On climate and clean energy, government sets the international framework, and the private sector uses that framework to do what it does best: innovate, create, and drive global progress.
Bringing climate change to the forefront of American politics means making politicians feel the heat - in their campaign coffers and at the polls - and it's time we voters make a change.
I really don't want the highlight of my life to be my success as an investor. Genuinely. My idea of death would be that person who is still telling you about that goal he scored in 1974.
Republican politicians often evoke the Bible when it suits their purposes. But they disregard some of its most important teachings when formulating policy. This includes the story of Noah's Ark.
On the path to a low-carbon, clean-energy future, we need cleaner, non-intermittent sources of power that will allow us to keep the lights on when the wind isn't blowing or the sun isn't shining.
In American politics, the deepest rivalry is between the rational world and the right wing of the GOP, who are increasingly marginalized in their view that America cannot take on the big challenges.
The tech-driven economy leads to a two-tier job market where workers are either critical or 'commodity.' This divisive 'winner-take-all' mentality hurts most Americans and worsens economic inequality.
With many serious challenges facing our country - pressing issues like climate change, income inequality, and education - Trump has expressed neither the inclination nor the ability to take on these problems.
Climate change is a global crisis - one the international community and private sector must tackle together if we have any hope of averting the worst impacts on our health, our economies, and our communities.
Here's the truth: Keystone XL won't make America energy-independent. It will threaten our land and livelihoods to pump Canadian tar sands' heavy crude through America and out to foreign countries, like China.
Though much about Donald Trump is chaotic and unpredictable, his overall agenda as a businessman and politician is clear and consistent: He wants to make himself more powerful, and he doesn't care how he does it.
Demanding that our leaders take action on climate change is about a lot more than polar bears and ice caps; it's about safeguarding our health, preserving our prosperity, and protecting the future of our children.
The most powerful thing in politics is voter-to-voter contact. People take in ideas and formulate opinions by contact with other people they perceive to be trustworthy - other voters, people from their communities.
I've always said that climate change is the defining issue of our generation. I've set out to hold candidates and elected officials accountable and to push our democracy to truly represent the interests of our kids.
Trump's vitriol attracts large crowds and may even win him the Republican presidential nomination but dishonors our best traditions. It spits in the face of every protection and opportunity our Constitution promises.
Since the Reagan era, Republicans have prescribed cuts for rich people and corporations as a cure-all. But every time they put their theory into practice, the rich just get richer, and everyone else gets left behind.
The idea of 'climate' - in quotation marks - is never going to be the issue. It's always going to be a local, human issue. And so to the extent that you put 'climate' on the ballot, that's never going to move the needle.
We eliminated the monarchy. We put limits on how long one person could lead our country and on the powers they held while in office. We took differences of opinion seriously - in fact, we built them into the fabric of our government.
America faces very real challenges. The climate crisis, inequality, stagnant wages, student debt - the list goes on. Rather than address these serious problems, Trump uses hate-filled rhetoric to divide America by race, religion, and ancestry.
What makes a successful country is when you invest in the people of the country - whether it's education, health care, job training - and you rebuild a clean America to provide the kind of infrastructure that will be sustainable and let us grow.
Climate change carries implications that stretch far beyond extreme weather, however. The effects on public health are far more alarming - and those have to be taken into account in order to calculate an accurate estimate of the costs of inaction.
If you're struggling to make your mortgage payment, and you've got three kids between the ages of 12 and 18, and you and your spouse works, and someone says, 'Oh, by the way, the world's ending,' it's like, 'Please. You don't need to tell me that.'
I think that my general feeling about the United States is that democracy works, and I've believed that my whole life, and my experience as a businessperson for 30 years was if you ignore the sound and fury, American democracy works if you give it enough time.
The more we allow Republicans to concentrate the lion's share of wealth in the hands of a few, the more power these wealthy few will have. And they will use this power to continue rewriting the rules of both our economy and our political system in their favor.
I think Donald knows climate change is a serious threat - but he only cares about protecting his luxury coastal properties, not the rest of America. Observing his actions as they relate to his business interests offers the best insight into the man behind the bluster.
Only when the oil and gas industry has taken full account of, and responsibility for, the impacts of exploring for and extracting fossil fuels can we engage in a serious and worthy evaluation of whether fracking can indeed provide a bridge to a sustainable energy future.
Californians like to spend a lot of time talking about how great our state is, but the truth is that we have learned and executed a very important lesson: if we want to win on issues as critical as climate change - if we want to lead - we absolutely have to stand together.
I think I was on this very straightforward escalator - grammar school, high school, college, get a job on Wall Street, kind of everything leads to the next thing. But at what point do you get to step back and say, 'I'd like to take a broader view of my time on this planet?'
For years, TransCanada has been selling the Keystone XL pipeline to Americans with all of the enthusiasm of a used car salesman - and using all of the same tricks. However, one myth is more egregious than all the rest: this pipeline will enhance America's energy independence.
The truth is that transitioning to clean energy like wind and solar will create millions of new, good jobs that can't be outsourced, and spur economic growth - all while avoiding the inevitable, significant damages our economy will suffer should we keep building more pipelines.
My mother, Marnie Fahr Steyer, was a lifelong smoker - up to three packs of unfiltered cigarettes a day. I like to think that, if Mom were still with us today, she'd be happy with the strides we've made to protect our children from the ongoing health crisis of tobacco addiction.
Voting is our right, but it is also our responsibility because if we don't take the next step and elect leaders who are committed to building a better future for our kids, other rights - our rights to clean air, clean water, health, and prosperity - are placed directly in harm's way.
In 2013, I dedicated myself full-time to combating the very real impacts of climate change. Working across the country, NextGen Climate Action formed new coalitions and worked hard to make climate change a part of our national conversation - and across the country, we had a big impact.
My experience of American politics is that people raise issues, and they get addressed in an effective but imperfect way. But that's sort of the American system: Mind the problem and worry it, and then we attack it with overwhelming power and put it away - and that's the end of that problem.
Republicans like to accuse Democrats of trying to 'pick winners and losers.' They say we should run government 'like a business' and let 'the market' decide important matters. When it comes to the declining fortunes of dirty fuels like coal, however, they quickly they abandon these principles.
We need to ask elected officials supporting Keystone XL whether they're willing to put their constituents and our environment at risk so that foreign oil tycoons get a better return on their tar sands investments. Keystone XL backers will keep trying to sell us a sucker's deal; it's up to us to say no.
I think I understand the relationships between different people within the company: people who are straightforward employees, people who can impact the bottom line, and people who share in the bottom line. I don't think you can understand inequality in America unless you understand what's driving profitability.
Our message to leaders from every continent was simple: California has succeeded on climate and clean energy because we've emphasized local, human values and built a coalition that includes community and environmental leaders, working families, and communities of color - as well as unions and progressive business.
What Bernie Sanders is talking about, which is trying to get back to a more perfect democracy, is something that we support, too. We just think that the idea of... wishing the rules were different and then pretending they were is something which, unfortunately, probably would be disastrous from the standpoint of energy and climate.
As a businessman, Trump preyed on the hopes and anxieties of struggling middle-class families. He cheated and scammed employees and customers alike. He left behind a trail of bankrupted companies. Past is prologue, and Trump has continued to pursue his own aggrandizement ruthlessly and relentlessly as a candidate and as president-elect.