33 Compelling Climate Change Quotes for a Better World

By
, Staff Writer
Updated July 29, 2021
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Inspiring the world to make changes for a better tomorrow can be tough. However, a few activists, politicians and celebrities hit the nail on the head when it comes to talking about climate change. See a few climate change quotes ready to compel you to action.

Climate Change Quotes From Inspirational Leaders

Climate change has been a hot-button issue for years. Therefore, many great leaders, presidents and CEOs have had their say about climate change. Dive into a few climate change quotes and global warming quotes from leaders around the world.

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  • “The world must come together to confront climate change. There is little scientific dispute that if we do nothing, we will face more drought, famine and mass displacement that will fuel more conflict for decades.” - Barack Obama

  • “When the well is dry, we know the worth of water.” - Benjamin Franklin

  • “Preservation of our environment is not a liberal or conservative challenge, it's common sense.” - Ronald Reagan

  • “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed.”- Mahatma Gandhi

  • “Climate change is a terrible problem, and it absolutely needs to be solved. It deserves to be a huge priority.” - Bill Gates

  • “On climate change, we often don't fully appreciate that it is a problem. We think it is a problem waiting to happen.” - Kofi Annan

  • "Gordon Brown thinks you can solve climate change by changing your lightbulbs. I think you should solve climate change by changing the government" - Siân Berry

  • "We simply must do everything we can in our power to slow down global warming before it is too late... The science is clear. The global warming debate is over." - Arnold Schwarzenegger

  • “We don’t have time to sit on our hands as our planet burns. For young people, climate change is bigger than election or re-election. It’s life or death.” - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

  • “By polluting the oceans, not mitigating CO2 emissions and destroying our biodiversity, we are killing our planet. Let us face it, there is no planet B.” - Emmanuel Macron

  • “I hold a vision of this blue green planet, safe and in balance. At the end of the Fossil Fuel Era, we are emerging to a new reality. We are ready to make the next leap – as momentous as abolishing slavery or giving women the vote.” - Elizabeth May

  • “We are running the most dangerous experiment in history right now, which is to see how much carbon dioxide the atmosphere can handle before there is an environmental catastrophe.” - Elon Musk

  • "Global warming is too serious for the world any longer to ignore its danger or split into opposing factions on it." - Tony Blair

Climate Change Quotes From Scientists and Activists

It’s not only politicians and leaders that talk about the planet. It’s activists and scientists too. The increasing heat in the atmosphere is on a collision course for catastrophic climate shifts. Learn what famous scientists and activists have to say in quotes about global warming.

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  • “The less we do to address climate change now, the more regulation we will have in the future.” - Bill Nye

  • “We are in danger of destroying ourselves by our greed and stupidity. We cannot remain looking inwards at ourselves on a small and increasingly polluted and overcrowded planet.” - Stephen Hawking

  • “What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” - Dr. Jane Goodall

  • “It’s not climate change that needs to be tackled. It is the political power of the fossil fuel industry.” - Richard Denniss

  • “What is the use of a house if you haven't got a tolerable planet to put it on?” - Henry David Thoreau

  • “When I was a boy in the 1930s, the carbon dioxide level was still below 300 parts per million. This year, it reached 382, the highest figure for hundreds of thousands of years.” - David Attenborough

  • “The planet will continue to cook.” - Paul Krugman

  • “Since global warming Eskimos now have twenty different words for water.” - John O'Farrell

  • “Climate change is the greatest threat to our existence in our short history on this planet. Nobody’s going to buy their way out of its effects.” - Mark Ruffalo

  • “I hope to use my celebrity to motivate people and contribute to moving our global society back from the brink. I am surprised environment is not at the top of the agenda. What is more important than good and clean air?” - Don Cheadle

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Climate Change Quotes to Ignite a Revolution

Are you ready to ignite change in the world? You aren’t the only one. Dive into these famous quotes from around the world looking to make change possible.

  • “The challenge of pollution and global warming is no longer the science, or the rate of innovation, but the rate of implementation: We have the clean solutions; now let's bundle them and install them.” - Jens Martin Skibsted

  • “If you really think that the environment is less important than the economy, try holding your breath while you count your money.” - Guy McPherson

  • “Climate change is the Everest of all problems, the thorniest challenge facing humankind.” - Lewis Gordon Pugh

  • “Change or be changed, right? And what we mean by that is that climate change, if we don't change course, if we don't change our political and economic system, is going to change everything about our physical world.” - Naomi Klein

  • “Climate change isn't something people get to choose to believe or not: it's happening.” - Matt Gaetz

  • “The strongest governments on earth cannot clean up pollution by themselves. They must rely on each ordinary person, like you and me, on our choices, and on our will.” - Chai Jing

  • “To all of you who choose to look the other way every day because you seem more frightened of the changes that can prevent catastrophic climate change than the catastrophic climate change itself. Your silence is worst of all.” - Greta Thunberg

  • “Men argue. Nature acts.” - Voltaire

  • “One of the biggest obstacles to making a start on climate change is that it has become a cliche before it has even been understood” - Tim Flannery

  • “The Earth should not be a worse place after my life than it was when I was born here.” - Rob Stewart

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Inspirational Climate Change Quotes for a Better World

Climate change is a widely debated topic. However, scientists all over the globe are writing reports, theses and dissertations covering this subject. Additionally, activists and politicians are working to get their voices heard. Therefore, you can find a lot of different quotes covering climate change. Need more inspirational quotes? Try out powerful Rosa Parks quotes.