Restorative Economist, Paul Hawken asks...
- Why do we separate the benefits of industrial development to some from the costs to others?
- Why do our deepest aspirations for goodness, for inclusion and generousity not cumulate into a peaceful and equitable society?
- What is the business case for worldwide endemic poverty, for double-glazing the planet with greenhouse gases?
- How has it come to pass that we create an economic system that tells us it's cheaper to destroy the earth than to take care of it?
We cannot correct environmental problems if we don't correct the assumptions that cause them.
~ Excerpt from "Dreams of a livable future," Utne Reader, May-June 2003
In the next fifty years, we must reduce by 90% what we take from the environment in industrialized nations, and produce a far better way of life for all...[W]e must reimagine the relationship between the two most complex systems on earth; human society and living systems.
~ Excerpt from "Keynote address at 2002 RMIT Graduation"
"[I]f you shrunk the earth down to the size of a standard desk-top globe, the atmosphere would only be about as thick as two coats of varnish. That drives home how foolish we are to tamper with it."
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"Conservationalists Jacques Cousteau and David Brower give us this helpful perspective: If the earth were the size of an egg, then all the water on the planet would be just a drop; all the air, if condensed to the density of water, would be a droplet only one-fortieth as big; and all the arable land would be a not-quite-visible speck of dust. That drop, droplet and speck are all that make the earth different from the moon."
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"Never in the history of mankind have we done so much, in so little time, to destroy the wonderful ecosystem that sustains us[.] Our biggest challenge in this new century is to take an idea that seems abstract - sustainable development - and turn it into a daily reality."
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Kofi Annan, UN Secretary General
"Sustainable Communities are communities that use their resources to meet current needs while ensuring that adequate resources are available for future generations; they seek a better quality of life for their residents while maintaining nature's ability to function over time. This involves a reconciliation of ecological, social and economic imperatives."
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"Man's desriny was to conquer and rule the world, and this is what he's done--almost. He hasn't quite made it, and it looks as though this may be his undoing. The problem is that man's conquest of the world has itself devastated the world. And in spite of all the mastery we've attained, we don't have enoough mastery to stop devastating the world--or to repair the devastation we've already wrought. We've poured our poisons into the world as though it were a bottomless pit--and we go on pouring our poisons into the world. We've gobbled up irreplaceable resources as though they could never run out--and we go on gobbling them up. It's hard to imagine how the world could survive another century of this abuse, but nobody's really doing anything about it. It's a problem our children will have to solve, or their children"
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"Protecting the environment is not an option -- it is something we simply must do. It is a fundamental value, beyond debate, beyond discussion"
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Paul Martin, Canadian Minister of Finance, in presenting his 2000 budget to Parliament
"We believe that urban Canada is in trouble, and if things remain the way they are, urban regions are not sustainable."
"The visions, strategies and resources required to stop this decline are not in place today. We, at the municipal level, lack the full set of tools to prevent further erosion on our own."
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Mayors Bill Smith (Edmonton) & Dave Broncommier (Calgary) at Strategies for Urban Sustainability Conference in Edmonton Alberta, Sept. 2003
"The clear connection between environmental considerations and economic competitiveness is leading a transformation of the way the global economy works. More and more, we see the signs of what can only be described as a new Industrial Revolution - a revolution in which the environment is a key driver of creativity, of innovation and of competitiveness around the world. The countries that fail to integrate both environmental and economic factors will not position themselves well to improve, or even to maintain, the quality of life of their people."
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Futher insight available at the How and What Webpages
