Tim DeChristopher Quotes:

This is not going away. At this point of unimaginable threats on the horizon, this is what hope looks like. In these times of a morally bankrupt government that has sold out its principles, this is what patriotism looks like. With countless lives on the line, this is what love looks like, and it will only grow.

Topics: Government, Going Away, Horizon, Sold Out

Civil disobedience is an act of love.

source: - "Civil disobedience is an act of love | An interview with Tim DeChristopher". Interview with Leslee Goodman, moonmagazine.org. December 1, 2014.

Topics: Acts Of Love, Disobedience, Civil Disobedience

We need actions that are really coming from people's souls.

Topics: People, Soul, Needs

With a nonviolent movement we are still inviting a strong reaction from the government or ruling authorities. We are inviting a powerful reaction against ourselves. But it undermines the moral legitimacy of our current government. That is the path we need to pursue. Rather than reinforcing their legitimacy we need to undermine their legitimacy.

Topics: Strong, Powerful, Government

Until our leaders take seriously their responsibility to pass on a healthy and just world to the next generation, I will continue this fight.

source: - "Four Eco-Documentaries That Will Fuel Your Fire" by Stefanie Penn Spear, www.huffingtonpost.com. April 2, 2012.

Topics: Responsibility, Fighting, Leader

We think we have no power when in fact we have more than enough power.

Topics: Thinking, Facts, Enough

Alienation is perhaps the most effective tool of control in America, and every reminder of our real connectedness weakens that tool.

Topics: Real, America, Tools, Connectedness

The reality is not that I lack respect for the law; it's that I have greater respect for justice.

source: - Tim DeChristopher’s statement to the court, grist.org. July 28, 2011.

Topics: Reality, Law, Justice

What one person can do is to plant the seeds of love and outrage in the hearts of a movement. And if those hearts are fertile ground, those seeds of love and outrage will grow into a revolution.

source: - "US eco-activist Tim DeChristopher speaks out from prison". www.theguardian.com. August 30, 2011.

Topics: Heart, Movement, Revolution, Fertile Ground

If we want to change that status quo, we might have to work outside of those rules because the legal pathways available to us have been structured precisely to make sure we don’t make any substantial change.

Topics: Work Out, Pathways, Want

If we're constantly suppressing our strong, heavy emotions - like fear and anger and outrage and sadness - it weakens us. But when we're not afraid to confront the hard emotions - when we don't turn away from the pain and the suffering of the world - it builds the confidence that we can do whatever we need to do.

source: - Source: www.truth-out.org

Topics: Strong, Pain, Sadness, Suppressing

Our security doesn't come from turning away from the hard stuff; it comes from the knowledge that we can handle it.

source: - Source: www.truth-out.org

Topics: Stuff, Handle, Hard

Respond to stressful times by turning towards each other, rather than away from each other.

source: - Source: www.truth-out.org

Topics: Stressful, Away From Each Other, Stressful Times

Dealing with our negative emotions is a crucial preparatory step to taking effective action. You have to grapple with the hard stuff, with the hard realities of the world. This builds your confidence that you can handle those intense situations when they arise.

source: - Source: www.truth-out.org

Topics: Reality, Negative, World, Negative Emotions

It's really hard to change the world when your first priority is making sure that the little world around yourself doesn't change.

source: - Source: www.truth-out.org

Topics: Priorities, World, Littles

We need to reject not only outdated fossil-fuel technology, but also an outdated economic system and an outdated corporatist political system. The progressive view is that we are smart enough and ethical enough to not have to be subservient to corporations. We can create our own resilient, localized communities.

source: - Source: www.truth-out.org

Topics: Smart, Technology, Views

Being forcefully rattled out of our consumer mentality - our addiction to comfort and convenience can create an opportunity for us [people] to reconnect with what we really value and with the qualities of life that really can sustain us - which include reconnecting with our roles as citizens, community members, and human beings.

source: - Source: www.truth-out.org

Topics: Opportunity, People, Addiction, Reconnecting

My values are primarily motivated by love for other people. I value the non-human world in large part because it's so vital to human beings. Even my appreciation for wilderness grows out of an understanding of how important wilderness can be for people.

source: - Source: www.truth-out.org

Topics: Appreciation, People, Understanding

Religious communities have historically been designed to counteract the forces of alienation. That's why so many successful social movements have relied upon the strength of spiritual communities and a large base of their organizing has been through them.

source: - Source: www.truth-out.org

Topics: Spiritual, Religious, Successful, Spiritual Community, Religious Community

Spirituality has to play an important role, particularly in resistance movements. The institutions we are fighting against - corporations and governments - use alienation as one of their primary weapons. A big part of their messaging is intended to make people feel separated from each other, which disempowers them, which makes them ever easier to exploit. This is really a spiritual weapon they are using. It isolates people and breaks their spirit.

source: - Source: www.truth-out.org

Topics: Spiritual, Fighting, Government

It wasn't until I started reading the history of religion that I understood that the definition of Christianity has shifted in many different directions over time, and the mainstream view today certainly doesn't have any exclusive ownership of what being a Christian means. Realizing that freed me to use the terminology without needing to be tied down to it.

source: - Source: www.truth-out.org

Topics: Christian, Reading, Mean, Terminology

I don't read the Bible as the literal word of God; I don't view Jesus as a God. I've rejected both those statements. I view Jesus as a model for how we should live, and by that definition I do consider myself a Christian.

source: - Source: www.truth-out.org

Topics: Christian, Jesus, Views

I don't think a worship of nature is necessary to mount a really strong defense of the environment.

source: - Source: www.truth-out.org

Topics: Strong, Thinking, Defense

Part of the reason I embrace nonviolence is that it's the most effective thing we can do. It's a more advanced tactic than violence. If people who engage in violence want to escalate their tactics, they would escalate to nonviolence.

source: - Source: www.truth-out.org

Topics: People, Tactics, Want

I would never go to jail to protect animals or plants or wilderness. For me, it’s about the people.

source: - "What Love Looks Like". Interview with Terry Tempest Williams, orionmagazine.org. May 28, 2011.

Topics: Animal, Jail, People, Protect Animals

Excess consumption doesn't make people happy. We can continue to provide for our needs, but we can't continue the endless pursuit of ever more consumer goods. There is no energy source that can provide enough consumer goods to meet our human and emotional needs; there never has been, and that's why it's been such a fruitless pursuit.

source: - Source: www.truth-out.org

Topics: Emotional, People, Energy, No Energy, Energy Sources

Going through intense change with an ignorant and apathetic citizenry, driven by a corporate agenda, is a really, really scary proposition. But going into it with an educated and empowered citizenry that feels it can determine the course of its society and can hold its corporations and governments accountable has a lot of power and potential to it. To me, that's what makes activism so important.

source: - Source: www.truth-out.org

Topics: Really Scary, Apathetic