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Paul Glover

Community organizer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; American politician
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Paul Glover (born 18 July 1947) is founder of more than a dozen organizations and campaigns dedicated to ecology and social justice, including Ithaca HOURS local currency, Citizen Planners of Los Angeles, Philadelphia Orchard Project, and Health Democracy. He is author of six books on grassroots organizing, and a former teacher of urban studies at Temple University. He walked across the USA entirely on foot in 1978. He was invited by the Green Party to participate in their 2004 presidential primaries, and was the 2014 Green Party candidate for governor of Pennsylvania. He is currently organizing the Patch Adams free clinic in Philadelphia.

Quotes

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  • “Americans are everywhere very decent, magnificent and ignorant.  They are generous and lovable; they hog the earth and blight the land.  In every hill and holler, highland, forest, meadow and plain they will continue to mingle and to learn, by intelligent transition or headlong catastrophe, to bind their lives to the resources of the land.”
    • [1] (“America the Hard Way”), The Grapevine, cover story, Walk Across the USA), 1979-01-10
  • “Los Angeles is an army camped far from its sources of supply, using distant resources faster than nature renews them.”
    • [2] (“Los Angeles: A History of the Future”) ,Planet Drum Review 1982-12-14
  • “These new green laws, organizations and personal styles show understanding that, no matter how super our computers, we will never invent substitutes for food, water and air, that our nation will progress or erode with its soil, that ultimately the land is the law of the land.”
    • [3] (“Where Does Ithaca’s Food Come From?”), The Grapevine, cover story 1987-02-20
  • “Growth is a good thing, up to about seven feet tall, then it starts to get inconvenient.  People eight feet tall bang their heads, their backs ache, their circulation slows, they spend more for food and clothes, and when they fall it really hurts.  Who can they make love to? ---The same is true of cities.  After a certain size they get more frustrating than exciting: People collide and anger turns to crime.  Streets become dangerous, housing costs more, tax rates rise, schools teach less, structures dwarf people, air smells stale, water fouls and traffic slows no matter how wide the roads.”
    • [4] (“What’s Next for Ithaca?”), The Grapevine, cover story, 1987-09-15
  • “While dissecting the universe scientists discovered that uranium, a metal invisibly boiling, can boil water to spark electricity. They believed the 'peaceful atom' would give cheap clean power. Recent years cause many to doubt this.”
    • [5] (“Ithaca Power”) comprehensive energy survey, received grant from Fund for Investigative Journalism, December 1988
  • “War fans spit on the principles of the American Revolution when they charge obediently wherever their president points our flag.  Many flag-wavers know little about the U.S. Constitution, but can explain soap operas and football in detail.”
    • [6] (Ithaca Times, letter to editor), March 1991
  • “Dollars control people. Community currencies connect people.”
    • [7] (HOUR Town, cover story), October 1995
  • “Without the expansion of a Mutual Enterprise economy responsible to communities and nature, this present boom will bust, creating a Greater Depression than that of the 1930's.”
    • [8] (“Stock Market Long Range Forecast” HOUR Town, cover story), December 1997
  • “We printed our own money because we watched Federal dollars come to town, shake a few hands, then leave to buy rainforest lumber and fight wars. Ithaca's HOURS, by contrast, stay in our region to help us hire each other. While dollars make us increasingly dependent on transnational corporations and bankers, HOURS reinforce community trading and expand commerce which is more accountable to our concerns for ecology and social justice.” .
    • [9] (Whole Earth Catalog), Spring 1998
  • “An empire can do a lot of damage as it flails deeper into quicksand. Wrapping ourselves in flags does not pull us free. Permanent war justifies permanent unquestioned dominance by military and industrial interests.”
    • [10] (“Why the United States Will Lose this War,” Ithaca Community News), 2001-09-24
  • "The era of road widening in our narrow valley will end. The era of trollies, buses, bicycles, pedicabs, cargo bikes and pedestrian amenity will accelerate. Center city will become home for thousands of humans rather than cars, to the benefit of local businesses. The era of worrying about paying for health care will be replaced by free and at-cost care through mutual aid clinics. The era of discarding the young, particularly kids of color, will be replaced by skills and work that give them pride and power. Likewise senior citizens will find here lifelong appreciation for their capabilities. The era of police respect for civil liberties will expand respect for police. The development of creative work for all will reduce crime."
    • [11] (Green Party of Tompkins County, Mayoral candidacy, campaign flyer), 2003
  • "When conservatives don't conserve and liberals don't liberate, Greens become centrists, because we directly address the central concerns of average Americans for healthy food, clean water and air; for secure housing; for reliable health care and satisfying work. By contrast, Democratic and Republican party leaders are dangerous extremists, indulging extremes of violence and greed, converting global wealth and human decency into chaos."
    • [http:/www.paulglover.org/greenprez.html] (“Green Giant,” Syracuse New Times, cover story regarding Green Party Presidential candidacy) 2003-08-23
  • "While Greens are horrified at corporate and consumer trashing of planet and society, our message is primarily confident and affirmative. Greens foster grassroots nonprofit and worker-managed enterprises that repair nature. Greens can govern to literally rebuild America's cities and suburbs, such that neighborhoods become energy-efficient; productive of food and fuel; respectful of water; safe and fun to live in. We can restore regional agriculture, rural economies, and habitat."
    • [12] (Green Party Presidential candidacy page), 2004
  • “Action without theory is reckless; theory without action is worthless.”
    • (speech at Center for Popular Economics, Summer Institute), 2006-07-27
  • “The world is coming to a beginning rather than an end. We have the knowledge, tools, creativity, and capital to proceed. Our challenge is merely to begin where we live, with whatever capabilities are at hand.”
    • [13] (Metropolitan Ecology syllabus, section 7, Temple University), April 2007
  • “All national currencies are deep in debt-- indebted to nature-- because human economies extract from nature faster than we replenish.”
  • “As usual, the future will be different. Philadelphia's responses to global warming and market cooling, high fuel and food prices, health unsurance, mortgages, student debt and war will decide whether our future here becomes vastly better or vastly worse. Whether we're the Next Great City or Next Great Medieval Village.”
  • "Life gets higher ratings than TV."
    • [16] (Green Party presidential manifesto), January 2009.
  • “Located in a low-income Philadelphia neighborhood, the Patch Adams free clinic will provide  community-based health care that is genuinely non-profit, preventive, humane and fun.  It is a refuge for doctors and nurses who want time to heal patients.  It is a refuge for patients who want to be treated with dignity.”
    • [17] (Patch Adams free clinic manifesto), June 2010
  • "Creating is more fun than consuming."
    • [18] (Deep Green Jobs, book), 2011
  • “Community organizers are motivated to promote the dignity of the nation, the beauty of people and planet.  They don't tolerate injustice.  History depends more on such common folks than on presidents and generals.  Democracy works because of their generosity.”
    • [19] (“How to Take Power,” book) 2011
  • “All of America's institutions have become too big to change.  Like sumo wrestlers in a basketball game, they move too slow.  Big Government, Big Oil, Big Insurance, Big Finance, Big Agriculture, Big Highway, Big Education, Big Military, Big Prison, Big Police, Big Poverty-- these feed on disaster and control.  They no longer exist primarily to fix problems, but to grow.”
  • “The following proposals are offered to the Occupy movement, to restore this American republic to control by its full electorate; to free its markets for the employment and enjoyment of all workers; to transfer control of money to its public and to establish responsible banking; to secure homes from seizure; to assure quality education and medical care for all; to refresh America's soil, water and air for the health of endless generations; and to rebuild its cities toward balance with nature.”

Books by Glover

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Quotes about Paul Glover

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  • No one in the world has done a better job in defining local solutions-- that are simple, empowering, and fun-- for seemingly intractable global problems than Paul Glover. Health Democracy" offers powerful, proven, and participatory tools for communities to begin solving their piece of the national health-care crisis.
    • Michael Shuman, author of "Going Local," "Technology for the Common Good," "The Small-Mart Revolution," and other books. He is co-director of the Institute for Policy Studies. (dustjacket of Health Democracy)
  • Grab Paul's book [Health Democracy] and become a player where the delivery of health care goes. Here is an invitation to be engaged with both health and democracy where it seems our government seems concerned with neither. Glover is not a doctor or administrator. He has shown that you, a citizen, can do it... he has. Do something!
    • Patch Adams, M.D., founder of Gesundheit! Institute, author of "Gesundheit! : Bringing Good Health to You, the Medical System, and Society through Physician Service, Complementary Therapies, Humor, and Joy." (dustjacket of Health Democracy)
  • An outstanding synthesis of ecological planning. Glover is one of the few professionals in California stimulating competent design for our post-automotive society.
    • John Diamante, Threshold Foundation (dustjacket of Los Angeles: A History of the Future)
  • One of our best bioregional writers.” --Kirkpatrick Sale, author of Human Scale, Dwellers in the Land: The Bioregional Vision, The Green Revolution, **Power Shift (dustjacket of Los Angeles: A History of the Future)
  • Residents of Ithaca, a city in Upstate New York, have come up with a unique method to deal with their strapped economy-- they're printing their own money. Hundreds of Ithaca businesses now accept it, and many residents take a portion of their pay in the local currency. Steve Inskeep reports the system is legal and it seems to be working..." --National Public Radio's Morning Edition, 3/18/96
  • The [Ithaca] HOUR system seems stable and well-managed... and is an interesting mix of social conscience and capitalism. Merchants who have used HOURS to attract customers, raise the profits of their businesses and bolster their bottom lines speak first about the money-making benefits of the currency. And if those large zero-interest loans to build commerce, if those community organizations supported by HOURS increase the standard of living for the town, and if those in the system felt a tangible effect from those projects, the crystal ball might explode from the influence of HOURS.
    • ("Alternative Monetary Systems: The Ithaca HOUR," Durrell Journal of Money and Banking), Spring 1996
  • This is textbook grassroots empowerment-- people improving their lives through their own initiative, free of the federal currency system and the traditional labor market.
    • Ithaca Journal editorial, 23 May 1996
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