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I give lectures on globalization. I have lived on three continents. I have no quarrel with a global consciousness.

In the globalized world that is ours, maybe we are moving towards a global village, but that global village brings in a lot of different people, a lot of different ideas, lots of different backgrounds, lots of different aspirations.

I am an educator who thinks globally.

A globalized world is by now a familiar fact of life. Building walls or moats may sound appealing, but the future belongs to those who tend to their people and then boldly engage the rest of the world, near and far.

I like globalization; I want to say it works, but it is hard to say that when six hundred million people are slipping backwards.

I try to understand place on a deeper level than just the physical or environmental aspects. It includes cultural and intellectual forces, too. It's an inclusive approach that brings in many disciplines and sees place as a dynamic thing.

I was really educating myself on the environment, but I didn't realize it was so connected to politics, connected to globalization.

Its not a global village, but we're in a highly interconnected globe.

They're such hierarchical things, film sets, they're sort of mini societies. Often they're incredibly political places.

In all my novels, a sense of place - not just geographic but social - is a critical element. I have always been drawn to the novels of Edith Wharton, among others, where social dynamics are crucial. Wharton's class consciousness fascinates me, and some of the tension in my books stems from that.