Alex Lifeson Quotes

Real environmental change depends on us. We can't wait for our leaders. We have to focus on what our own responsibilities are and how we can make the change happen.

I got the wake-up call that no one is policing our oceans. I wondered, how can I do anything? What really can I do to make things better? There are some perks to being a celebrity. My job is to be funny once in a while, but it's my responsibility to make good use of it.

I'm a real person, and I'm angry. I'm trying to use this celebrity thing to get people some help. AIDS, poverty, racism - I want to be one of the hands that helps stop all that. I'll put it on my shoulders. I'll charge it to my account.

After 'An Inconvenient Truth' came out, a lot of people came to me with their causes, and there are a lot - water, poverty, and so many, many more.

If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there'd be peace.

I have all the admiration in the world for somebody like Bono, who really puts himself on the line and tries actively to do something about our world situation.

I'm in this band to give volume to various struggles throughout the world. To me, the tension in this band is a minimal sacrifice.

People are overwhelmed looking up at the Mount Everest of environmental challenges that we face. But you put one foot in front of the other and you recognize that not everyone is Sir Edmund Hillary.

It's up to people like us, all of us, to address and talk about things like runaway global warming and how we can use things like remote viewing to save our planet.

If all of us acted in unison as I act individually there would be no wars and no poverty. I have made myself personally responsible for the fate of every human being who has come my way.

No act of government can save the world.

After the ignominious collapse of the Copenhagen global climate change summit in 2009, Bolivia organised a People's Summit with 35,000 participants from 140 countries - not just representatives of governments, but also civil society and activists.

Looking back on humanity's battle with pollution, history has been made by thousands of ordinary people who one day say, 'No. I'm not satisfied. I don't want to wait, and I don't want to pass the buck. I want to stand up and do something. I want to do it here, and I want do to it now.'

Since the early 1990s, I had been very worried about the state of the environment, and by the end of that decade, I realized I needed to do something about it.

Most of the time we do nothing, myself included, I think the lesson I learned from [playing humanitarian Tessa in The Constant Gardner] is that a lot of drops make up an ocean. If people would stand up and say what they believe in maybe we can make a difference. Helping one person is better than nothing. Just do something.

You don't need role models to be part of a social movement as long as you care about the issues.

I believe activism is the true source of change in the world. Pushing to change social structures in communities that you are a part of is critical for making real lasting change.

Climate change is a shared crisis - one that transcends politics and borders and must be fought collectively, justly and transparently.

Every person has the ability to influence change. I am grateful that my voice counts, and I am able to influence change. But more than that, there is a certain amount of activism that is engrained in me.

Whether you want to do a letter-writing campaign or a march or start a social media hashtag - whatever it is - know that there are people out there that are thinking exactly like you're thinking and are also afraid to take that next and very important step.

No one can escape politics. We are all in it. Even if we shy away from it, I just decide to embrace it. And I try to be an ally for other fights.

I want everyone else to become a global warming activist so it's not all on my shoulders.

People are not going to change because an activist goes around shouting.

I began to lead two lives... one being a kid and the other starting to speak internationally about the environment... and advocating for social and environmental justice.

If we don't blow ourselves up, this is going to be a really wonderful world.