Alex Steffen Quotes

I don't believe - till something radical changes that we are not on track to do - that hybrids are material to climate change. They're fashionable, everybody loves them, the Prius is selling well, but so are Gucci bags. But they don't impact the way the world carries stuff. You know it's a fashion statement.

If I hear that Quito, Ecuador, is doing something to have a whole area of town that's zero emissions, and we're thinking about that in Los Angeles' downtown, I'm like, 'I better catch up.'

Cities offer us powerful leverage on our most stubborn, wasteful practices. Long commutes in our cars, big power bills from our energy-hogging buildings, shopping trips to buy stuff that'll spend a few short months in our homes and long centuries in our landfills.

The forces that are in play on climate change essentially revolve around the generation of power, the transportation of goods and services and people, and the sorts of materials that we use to fuel the whole of our civilisation.

Environmentally friendly cars will soon cease to be an option...they will become a necessity.

In my state, I created a Clean Energy Fund and invested in electrifying our transportation system - from vehicles and buses to transit and even ferries.

I've been working to make sure that we've got adequate transportation. I've been working to make sure that we can afford energy within our villages and in our communities.

By expanding the state's EV infrastructure, PG&E is continuing to help California meet its climate goals while making it more convenient for our customers to choose clean, affordable electricity to fuel their vehicles.

As each country looks to meet their emissions reduction, energy efficiency, or renewable energy goals, they will look to cities as places where transformational change can make the most difference.

Setting San Francisco on a course to sustainability will require all of us to work in concert on a number of ambitious efforts.

I was inspired to see leaders from Paris, New York City, San Francisco and Vancouver, B.C. rolling up their sleeves to create clean and safe transportation systems; make homes and buildings efficient, comfortable and affordable; and ensure more of our energy comes from clean sources like wind and solar.

The main issue of cities is to tackle climate change and it is the issue of the current and next generations. Sustainability cannot be emphasized too much and I have designated the issue of climate change as the most important to solve.

Our world is evolving without consideration, and the result is a loss of biodiversity, energy issues, congestion in cities. But geography, if used correctly, can be used to redesign sustainable and more livable cities.

Climate change deniers would have us believe that oil, gas, and coal are the only ways to power a modern, industrialized society. They are wrong, and the proof is all around us.

China has adopted and is implementing its national climate change program. This includes mandatory national targets for reducing energy intensity and discharge of major pollutants and increasing forest coverage and the share of renewable energy for the period of 2005 through 2010.

Energy consumption matters both to our environment and our economy.

Only electricity can give the transport sector the flexibility to switch fuels when one or more become too expensive.

In my personal belief, the big problem with climate change is getting people to understand the magnitude and scale that we're dealing with. If you buy a vehicle that gets 35 miles to the gallon, that means nothing; it's not enough. We need to make changes across society and in every piece of the energy pie.

The single most important thing we can do to protect our communities from climate change is to reduce dangerous carbon pollution.

Gas is by far and away the most important element of our energy policy.

As I have said for many years throughout this land, we're borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the future of human civilization. Every bit of that has to change.

I think water transport will see a revival. However, we're not going to replay the 20th century. The industrial city of that era will not be revived. Our cities are going to contract. Many of them will contract as a whole but densify at their core.

Labor believes in sustainability. We believe in acting on climate change, not just talking about it.

The only way people are going to change their car buying habits, and the only way government will get behind alternatively fueled vehicles, is if gasoline prices continue to go up.

If you had a carbon tax, you'd have less cars and more bicycles, more people getting around on foot and by public transport.