--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There is nothing that will discombobulate…" description: "\"There is nothing that will discombobulate and degrade [more] the lives of people near the margin on this planet. You don't have to look much past New O..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/69a/bill-mckibben-1057_degrade_there-is-nothing-that-will-discombobulat_1502436.jpg" --- # There is nothing that will discombobulate and degrade… ![“There is nothing that will discombobulate and degrade [more] the lives of people near the margin on this planet. You don't have to look much past New Orleans to see that. Who took the hit? Some of the poorest people in the U.S.” quote by Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/69a/bill-mckibben-1057_degrade_there-is-nothing-that-will-discombobulat_1502436.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/69a/bill-mckibben-1057_degrade_there-is-nothing-that-will-discombobulat_1502436.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/69a/bill-mckibben-1057_degrade_there-is-nothing-that-will-discombobulat_1502436.jpg) > “There is nothing that will discombobulate and degrade \[more\] the lives of people near the margin on this planet. You don't have to look much past New Orleans to see that. Who took the hit? Some of the poorest people in the U.S.” [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Marginalized communities suffer disproportionate climate impacts, evident near New Orleans. **In simple terms:** Poor people face the worst climate damage. Key Takeaway Address climate inequality now. Themes environment social justice inequality climate change Mood concerned urgent determined Type activist analytical When to use this quote - urban planning - policy advocacy - community support - disaster preparedness Key Concepts Vulnerability systemic neglect resilience Questions to Reflect On - How can we reduce climate harm to vulnerable groups? - What policies protect those most at risk? A Different Perspective Solutions require systemic change, not just awareness. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Hurricane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hurricane/) [New orleans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/new-orleans/) [Past](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/past/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) ## Related quotes > [The total impact of the Tory/Liberal tax, welfare and public spending changes has hit the poorest 10% in society disproportionately hard - and women…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicola-sturgeon/the-total-impact-of-the-tory-liberal-tax-welfare-and-public-spending/) [Nicola Sturgeon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicola-sturgeon/) > [When you go to China and the developing world, people understand more clearly the dangers that are coming at them because they're living closer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/when-you-go-to-china-and-the-developing-world-people-understand-more/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [I think it's going to be a tough century; I also think people are starting to rise up, and that a growth in human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/i-think-it-s-going-to-be-a-tough-century-i-also-think-people-are/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [Some of the poorest people are the richest of heart.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melchor-lim/some-of-the-poorest-people-are-the-richest-of-heart/) [Melchor Lim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melchor-lim/) > [Sub-Saharan Africa is also home to 400 million of the world's poorest people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bono/sub-saharan-africa-is-also-home-to-400-million-of-the-world-s-poorest/) [Bono](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bono/) > [Live Below the Line raises real money to help the world's poorest people, but it is also a symbolic demonstration aimed at highlighting -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hugh-evans/live-below-the-line-raises-real-money-to-help-the-world-s-poorest/) [Hugh Evans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hugh-evans/) > [The poorest of people can be the richest in spirt.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayjee-grogan/the-poorest-of-people-can-be-the-richest-in-spirt/) [Ayjee Grogan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayjee-grogan/) > [If we are going to try to get across to the poorest people in the world that we care about their plight and we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-cameron/if-we-are-going-to-try-to-get-across-to-the-poorest-people-in-the/) [David Cameron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-cameron/) > [The goatherds were the poorest people of Spain. Probably, they were the richest.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jose-mujica/the-goatherds-were-the-poorest-people-of-spain-probably-they-were-the/) [Jose Mujica](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jose-mujica/) > [I can say from experience that the poorest of people are far more happier than the richest of people. I'm not rich but my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeremy-limn/i-can-say-from-experience-that-the-poorest-of-people-are-far-more/) [Jeremy Limn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeremy-limn/) > [Without action to de-carbonize our economies, unchecked climate change threatens to batter lives and economies around the world, hitting the poorest people hardest.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arancha-gonzalez/without-action-to-de-carbonize-our-economies-unchecked-climate-change/) [Arancha Gonzalez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arancha-gonzalez/) > [I think even the poorest people in the great country that is the United States should be entitled to basic health care,](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-d-higgins/i-think-even-the-poorest-people-in-the-great-country-that-is-the/) [Michael D. Higgins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-d-higgins/) > [In England, even the poorest of people believe that they have rights; that is very different from what satisfies the poor in other lands.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-heffer/in-england-even-the-poorest-of-people-believe-that-they-have-rights/) [Simon Heffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-heffer/) > [Looking at these issues as a businessman, I believe that investing in the world's poorest people is the smartest way that our government spends…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-gates/looking-at-these-issues-as-a-businessman-i-believe-that-investing-in/) [Bill Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-gates/) > [For far too long the world's poorest people have seen no benefit from the vast natural resources in their own backyards. It is time…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-clegg/for-far-too-long-the-world-s-poorest-people-have-seen-no-benefit-from/) [Nick Clegg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-clegg/) ## More by Bill McKibben > [I try not to be either optimistic or pessimistic. I try not to think about outcomes on that scale. My job, it seems to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/i-try-not-to-be-either-optimistic-or-pessimistic-i-try-not-to-think/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [Oil companies are radical because they're willing to alter the chemical composition of the atmosphere.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/oil-companies-are-radical-because-they-re-willing-to-alter-the/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [Whenever anyone challenges anything, the powers that be try to paint them as extremists or radicals or whatever. And I think that's actually nonsense.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/whenever-anyone-challenges-anything-the-powers-that-be-try-to-paint/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [My guess is that liberating the fossil fuel industry to frack anywhere they want will drive down the rate at which we're converting to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/my-guess-is-that-liberating-the-fossil-fuel-industry-to-frack/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [What makes us different? We're the creature that can decide not to do something that we are capable of doing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/what-makes-us-different-we-re-the-creature-that-can-decide-not-to-do/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [“The snow was coming down so hard. It looked like the flakes were hurrying to get out of the sky so the next ones…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/the-snow-was-coming-down-so-hard-it-looked-like-the-flakes-were/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [Most of the men and women who vote in Congress each year to continue subsidies have taken campaign donations from big energy companies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/most-of-the-men-and-women-who-vote-in-congress-each-year-to-continue/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [“I’ve sat behind a microphone and listened for decades as Americans learned to stop talking with each other and start shouting instead. No discussions,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/i-ve-sat-behind-a-microphone-and-listened-for-decades-as-americans/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [People in low-lying countries like Bangladesh with almost 140 million people who are managing to feed themselves, whose carbon emissions can't really be calculated…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/people-in-low-lying-countries-like-bangladesh-with-almost-140-million/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [We're putting more carbon into the atmosphere than the atmosphere can absorb. And everybody told us when we started, coz we knew nothing when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/we-re-putting-more-carbon-into-the-atmosphere-than-the-atmosphere-can/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [Everything that the administration has done has been counterproductive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/everything-that-the-administration-has-done-has-been-counterproductive/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [We use the web to help people organize in the flesh, and then we take the images of those events and put them back…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/we-use-the-web-to-help-people-organize-in-the-flesh-and-then-we-take/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [everyone knows, at some level, that the sharp line between "good weather" and "bad weather" is a fiction, that we need rain as surely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/everyone-knows-at-some-level-that-the-sharp-line-between-good-weather/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [The thing about global warming is that you can address it on a great number of levels - in fact you have to.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/the-thing-about-global-warming-is-that-you-can-address-it-on-a-great/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [Where people aren't as deeply reliant on fossil fuel as in the United States, it's far easier for them to imagine change on this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/where-people-aren-t-as-deeply-reliant-on-fossil-fuel-as-in-the-united/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) [Explore all 299 Bill McKibben quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) ## More Degrade quotes > [Money degrades all the gods of man and converts them into commodities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marx/money-degrades-all-the-gods-of-man-and-converts-them-into-commodities/) [Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marx/) > [So far as discipline is concerned, freedom means not its absence but the use of higher and more rational forms as contrasted with those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-horton-cooley/so-far-as-discipline-is-concerned-freedom-means-not-its-absence-but/) [Charles Horton Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-horton-cooley/) > [What more degrades woman today than that she so often seeks marriage as a support? Why is the holy sacrament of love, the sanctity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-c-ames/what-more-degrades-woman-today-than-that-she-so-often-seeks-marriage/) [Mary C. Ames](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-c-ames/) > [Any time you can degrade or take away the top leadership of an organization, it's a positive step forward.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marco-rubio/any-time-you-can-degrade-or-take-away-the-top-leadership-of-an/) [Marco Rubio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marco-rubio/) > [For God to be kept out of the classroom or out of America's public debate by nervous school administrators or overcautious politicians serves no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nancy-gibbs/for-god-to-be-kept-out-of-the-classroom-or-out-of-america-s-public/) [Nancy Gibbs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nancy-gibbs/) > [Psychoanalysis is a technique we practice at our cost; psychoanalysis degrades our risks, our dangers, our depths; it strips us of our impurities, of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emile-m-cioran/psychoanalysis-is-a-technique-we-practice-at-our-cost-psychoanalysis/) [Emile M. Cioran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emile-m-cioran/) > [... one pets what one degrades; and one has to support what one has enfeebled](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phyllis-bottome/one-pets-what-one-degrades-and-one-has-to-support-what-one-has/) [Phyllis Bottome](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phyllis-bottome/) > [You degrade us and then ask why we are degraded. You shut our mouths and ask why we don't speak. You close your colleges…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-douglass/you-degrade-us-and-then-ask-why-we-are-degraded-you-shut-our-mouths/) [Frederick Douglass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-douglass/) > [“And she looked upon the mirror that was given as a gift. She hated everything about it, from the circular size of it, to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-liccione/and-she-looked-upon-the-mirror-that-was-given-as-a-gift-she-hated/) [Anthony Liccione](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-liccione/) > [If you've got the platform and the ability to make a difference, then this goes beyond 'should' and reaches the level of 'must.' You…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-godin/if-you-ve-got-the-platform-and-the-ability-to-make-a-difference-then/) [Seth Godin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-godin/) > [So much of the habitat destruction and pollution is based on the simple principle that we somehow have been given free license over other…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-graffin/so-much-of-the-habitat-destruction-and-pollution-is-based-on-the/) [Greg Graffin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-graffin/) > [The decision to give an indicative date for a return is a mistake. It degrades the process. It degrades human life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-trimble/the-decision-to-give-an-indicative-date-for-a-return-is-a-mistake-it/) [David Trimble](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-trimble/) > [There will be little drudgery in this better ordered world. Natural power harnessed in machines will be the general drudge. What drudgery is inevitable…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-g-wells/there-will-be-little-drudgery-in-this-better-ordered-world-natural/) [H. G. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-g-wells/) > [Of the two, I prefer those who render vice lovable to those who degrade virtue.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-joubert/of-the-two-i-prefer-those-who-render-vice-lovable-to-those-who/) [Joseph Joubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-joubert/) > [If someone does me injury I must desire that this injury shall not degrade me. I must desire this out of love for him…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-weil/if-someone-does-me-injury-i-must-desire-that-this-injury-shall-not/) [Simone Weil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-weil/) Browse all 200 Degrade quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "There is nothing that will discombobulate and degrade [more] the lives of people near the margin on this planet. You don't have to look much past New Orleans to see that. Who took the hit? Some of the poorest people in the U.S.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Bill McKibben" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/there-is-nothing-that-will-discombobulate-and-degrade-more-the-lives/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Degrade" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/there-is-nothing-that-will-discombobulate-and-degrade-more-the-lives/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/69a/bill-mckibben-1057_degrade_there-is-nothing-that-will-discombobulat_1502436.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/69a/bill-mckibben-1057_degrade_there-is-nothing-that-will-discombobulat_1502436.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/69a/bill-mckibben-1057_degrade_there-is-nothing-that-will-discombobulat_1502436.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“There is nothing that will discombobulate and degrade [more] the lives of people near the margin on this…” — Bill McKibben", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Bill McKibben", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "There is nothing that will discombobulate...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/there-is-nothing-that-will-discombobulate-and-degrade-more-the-lives/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/there-is-nothing-that-will-discombobulate-and-degrade-more-the-lives/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```