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Recycling is what we do when we're out of options to avoid, repair, or reuse the product first. Firstly: Reduce. Don't buy what we don't need. Repair: Fix stuff that still has life in it. Reuse: Share. Then, only when you've exhausted those options, recycle.

Annie Leonard

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Annie Leonard
Age: 60
Born: 1964
Born: January 1
Activist
Film Director
Proponent
Seattle
Washington
Annie Marie Leonard
Still
Exhausted
Firsts
Reduce
Need
Product
Recycle
First
Avoid
Reuse
Needs
Products
Firstly
Life
Share
Recycling
Stuff
Repair
Stills
Options

More quotes by Annie Leonard

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Our primary identity has become that of being consumers – not mothers, teachers, or farmers, but of consumers. We shop and shop and shop.
Annie Leonard
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We've got to rescue our democracy by using it.
Annie Leonard
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It's crucial we know the facts and science, but it's naïve to rely on them alone to build a movement for change.
Annie Leonard
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We're more concerned about climate or economic equality or racial justice or anything else that is good for people and the planet, we simply must also spend some time wresting back our money-marinated democracy. This will require getting money out of politics and then getting people back in.
Annie Leonard
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Bottled water costs about 2000 times more than tap water. Can you imagine paying 2000 times the price of anything else? How about a $ 10,000 sandwich?
Annie Leonard
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Activists need to get the facts right. One of the big assets we have on our side is the truth, and we lose credibility and power if w e're loose with that.
Annie Leonard
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Turns out, people's brains are not nearly as powerful a motivator as our hearts. Facts, data, and economic models don't move people to courageous action the way that powerful stories can.
Annie Leonard
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Put simply, if we do not redirect our extraction and production systems and change the way we distribute, consume, and dispose of our stuff - what I sometimes call the take-make-waste model - the economy as it is will kill the planet.
Annie Leonard
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There is no such thing as away. When you throw something away, it must go somewhere.
Annie Leonard
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Shop smarter and shop less. But please don't let that dissuade you from engaging in campaigns to make real lasting change.
Annie Leonard
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Between the disillusionment that people feel about politics-as-usual, assaults on the right to vote, and the constant feelings of pressure that Americans suffer in our overworked, overstressed economy, too many people have checked out of the political process.
Annie Leonard
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We depend on this planet to eat, drink, breathe, and live. Figuring out how to keep our life support system running needs to be our number-one priority. Nothing is more important than finding a way to live together - justly, respectfully, sustainably, joyfully - on the only planet we can call home.
Annie Leonard
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I am afraid that I think both the near future environmental reality and political landscape are not looking good - and they are connected. The best tool we have for advancing environmental solutions is our democracy, and we can't currently access it because it has been so thoroughly hijacked by big corporate interests.
Annie Leonard
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Right now, American government has stepped back from offering any kinds of protection for human rights and public health. And the fossil fuel industry thinks that they have just absolute free rein to go for it. The one thing in the way is public opposition. It's civil society. It's activism.
Annie Leonard
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I think history has less of an impact on current times than the stories that we tell ourselves about that history [do].
Annie Leonard
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You cannot run a linear system on a finite planet indefinitely.
Annie Leonard
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The power that comes from knowing the facts of history is dwarfed by the power that comes from being able to shape the stories about how that history is written and told.
Annie Leonard
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Solid information is necessary, but insufficient. We also need to present that information in ways that are inspiring and accessible. That's where stories come in.
Annie Leonard