At the Austrian World Summit, an environmental conference Schwarzenegger helped organize in his home country, the former governor tried to galvanize climate-change advocates that might have felt their efforts were for naught because of the Trump administration’s dismissal of their cause. His message was typically blunt. 

“Stop whining,” Schwarzenegger said on Tuesday. “Whining doesn’t change anything. Whining doesn’t build anything. I know that sometimes politicians in Washington, D.C., or many other capitals of the world won’t always agree with everything that we do and that we believe in.” 

Schwarzenegger said his comments were meant to spur action from people at a time they were facing governments that had not made environmental policy a priority. “I know this sounds a little bit like a motivational speech, rather than a speech about the environment—but you know why—because it is,” he said. 

The former actor, who is a longtime climate advocate, admitted he’d heard many complaints from his peers recently. 

“Lately, every time I talk to environmentalists and to policy people, they say to me, ‘Arnold, I mean, what is the point of fighting for a clean environment when the government of the United States says climate change is a hoax and coal and oil is the future, when the politicians in Washington don’t care,’” he said. 

President Donald Trump’s environmental policy has been characterized by relaxing pollution regulations, emphasizing oil drilling on federal lands, and cutting spending for existing green initiatives. During his speech, Schwarzenegger did not criticize Trump directly, saying he had a policy of not speaking negatively about U.S. presidents when he was abroad—though he did speak broadly of leaders whose policies did not help climate change. 

“The world will always have problems and leaders who don’t agree with us, or are just terrible leaders,” Schwarzenegger said. “We have seen it over and over again throughout history, but sometimes problems need to be solved by the people. Sometimes the people need to rise up and get to work.” 

In his remarks, Schwarzenegger gave examples of people who “didn’t ask the government” for permission to enact environmentally friendly policies. For example, mayors can make their city buses electric; CEOs can push to reduce their company’s carbon emissions; and schools could install solar panels on their rooftops. 

Throughout the speech, Schwarzenegger pointed to his own track record in public office as evidence of how effective action could be. He told the story of how in 2007, during his tenure as governor, California instituted emissions regulations that were stricter than those mandated by a federal law passed under President George W. Bush. When the Environmental Protection Agency objected to California’s state-specific version of the law, the state sued the federal agency.   

“Did we whine like little girlie men?” Schwarzenegger asked. “No, we sued them. We sued the government. We took the fight from court to court to court.” 

In 2009, when President Barack Obama took office, the EPA granted California the exception it sought, ending its court challenge. 

Schwarzenegger called on the audience to adopt a similar gung-ho attitude regardless of whether they held elected office. 

“You don’t need to be the president to be a hero,” Schwarzenegger said. “You just need to care and get off your butts and get to work.”