Talk:Think globally, act locally

Quote in relation to effects of Covid-19
I suggest to add a paragraph to this article dealing with the recent Covid-19 crisis, as the phrase is used to illustrate a remedy to the vulnerability of global supply lines and availability of resources depending on too many uncontrollable factors. Does anyone else have seen references or usage of Think globally, act locally phrase in this context? I don't want to base an addition to this article just on my personal perception or observation. Naor (talk) 19:51, 3 May 2020 (UTC)

Older Discussion
Eblen, R. A. and Eblen W. (1994) The Encyclopedia of the Environment Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. cites Rene Dubos as an author of a maxim. See http://capita.wustl.edu/ME567_Informatics/concepts/global.html


 * Please sign your posts. This claim isn't supported by Frank Feather who claims he invented the phrase. Maustrauser 10:55, 29 March 2006 (UTC)


 * "If I testify for myself my testimony is not true". Eblen and Eblen is a third party testimony while Feather authorship is supported by his own organization. Ammosov

Comment Is this even worth a mention in wiki? surely once we figure out who actually coined the term we could merge it with their entry. Librarianofages 02:51, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

The phrase "Think globally, but act locally" was coined by the French theologian Jacques Ellul, actually. The reference to Brower's obit does not support at all the idea that he thought up the phrase. User:tb

In which publication?

In the context of the current environment, what does it mean to think and act globally and locally? Choose produce and products from within a radius of 100 miles? Your thoughts would be appreciated for a research project.

My first encounter with the term "Think global act local" was in an environmental context (the Rio Summit in 1992) in connection with Local Agenda 21.

With the "ly"s - “Think globally; act locally. ” - it has been attributed to Buckminster Fuller (e.g. at mindprod quotes), but there seem to be several vague references to the term - there seems to be no uniquely identifiable source for this statement, source not known, etc.

So, keep digging :-).


 * Actually, the phrase "Think Global, Act Local" is one of the sayings of Sir Patrick Geddes, from his book Cities in Evolution in 1915. See http://www.luath.co.uk/acatalog/ThinkGlobalActLocal.html  Helpfully, the Wikipedia entry for Geddes doesn't mention it.  I am by no means a Geddes expert so don't really want to edit either this page or the Geddes page, but I will put a mention on its discussion page too to see if anyone who knows more about the significance feels up to the task. Ewan carmichael (talk) 18:41, 2 June 2008 (UTC)

Seemingly irrelevant paragraph.
"The idea behind this phrase contributes behind the ideas of conservation in context to the masterplanning of cities. Geddes found that it was ridiculous to pretend conservation is for the betterment of the occupants even if it wipes out the entire context of the city. Therefore, Geddes formulated this phrase seeking for deeper understanding and minor insertions of new context into existing cities." Who is Geddes and what does this passage have to do with the phrase "Think Globally Act Locally"? This text seems to be totally irrelevant to the content of the page. If it is relevant, please go back and edit the full article with the appropriate sources to prove it's relevance. It seems tacked-on simply to prove a point. Further, the passage it's self needs work to bring it more clarity, it makes no sense at all, except perhaps if one is a city planner. Until someone can better support this addition, I think it should be left out of the main article, as it adds nothing to it at this point. Jestermonkey (talk) 22:49, 18 December 2008 (UTC)


 * There is overwhelming evidence associating Patrick Geddes with the phrase, and it certainly doesn't depend on this rather cryptic paragraph. Jestermonkey's objection appears to be based on the argument that Geddes was using the phrase in some strange context, but as the current article says absolutely nothing about the proper contexts in which the phrase can be used, or even what different people might have meant by this phrase, I can't see that Jestermonkey's objection stands. --RichardVeryard (talk) 15:11, 19 February 2009 (UTC)

Not in Geddes "CITIES IN EVOLUTION"
The full text of Cities in Evolution is on the web [] and does not include the phrase "Think global, act local." In fact, it does not include the word "global" as far as I can find. I have removed the citation pending further information. Jed (talk) 16:33, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

Stuart Grauer reference
Citation 5 sounds intriguing, but I cannot find any trace of it online:

Grauer, Stuart. Think Globally, Act Locally: A Delphi Study of Educational Leadership Through the Development of International Resources in the Local Community. University of San Diego, San Diego 1989.

--interrelativity (talk) 05:33, 17 February 2010 (UTC)

Examples of thinking globally and acting locally
Examples of thinking globally and acting locally The article has no actual examples of how this might work. Is recycling tin cans and bottles an example? Mxmeth (talk) 18:20, 23 April 2011 (UTC)

Requested move

 * The following discussion is an archived discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section. 

The result of the move request was: page moved per discussion. - GTBacchus(talk) 15:33, 18 October 2011 (UTC)

Think Globally, Act Locally → Think globally, act locally –

It's not even upcased in the article text. Per WP:CAPS and WP:TITLE, this is a generic, common phrase, not a propriety or commercial term, so the article title should be downcased. Lowercase will match the formatting of related article titles. Tony  (talk)  06:32, 11 October 2011 (UTC)


 * Support move. Yup, fully agree with nom. -- &oelig; &trade; 07:43, 11 October 2011 (UTC)
 * Support per Tony and WP:CAPS – clearly a generic term. Jenks24 (talk) 12:56, 11 October 2011 (UTC)
 * Support this is just a non-specific management 'buzz phrase'. -- Ohconfucius  ¡digame! 03:54, 12 October 2011 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

Article re-org May 2016
This article in in need of reorganization and editing. I will be working on that in a sandbox at User:Meclee/proj2-sandbox. If you have objections to a re-org or comments, please make them here on this talkpage. Meclee (talk) 20:47, 17 May 2016 (UTC)

I've re-thought and decided not to pursue this task. Meclee (talk) 00:52, 31 May 2016 (UTC)

In the "See also" section, what is that invisible arrow Globalocal arrow ?
It looks like this: (in section heading 2:) See also
 * Agenda 21

Under Agenda 21, there is an invisible line, you have to click the edit button to make it visible. I'm continuously discovering new lay-out and code. I think this code makes this article link or to be taken up in the wikipedia section on the larger issue/topic/chapter "Global Local"? Thy--SvenAERTS (talk) 13:02, 8 March 2017 (UTC)

Church
The Church paragraph should be deleted IMHO.
 * dubious premise (While the Christian church [which one?] has traditionally "thought globally and acted locally")
 * some Christian leaders have reversed the slogan -- not supported by the citation, which is an essay by one pastor that doesn't appear to be influential/widely known (googling >>"act global" "craig rees"<< returns only said pastor's personal web page)

Are there sources indicating wider use of the reversed slogan in religious contexts? Glimz (talk) 21:59, 25 March 2023 (UTC)