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Paul Hawken

Paul Hawken Quotes

Environmentalist

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Famous Paul Hawken Quotes

“We can just as easily have an economy that is based on healing the future instead of stealing it. We can either create assets for the future or take the assets of the future. One is called restoration and the other exploitation. And whenever we exploit the earth we exploit people and cause untold suffering. Working for the earth is not a way to get rich, it is a way to be rich.”

PeopleWayEarthSufferingCausesHealingEconomyRichEnvironmentalStealingAssetsSustainabilityExploitationExploitsRestorationGet Rich
Author:Paul Hawken
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“When asked if I am pessimistic or optimistic about the future, my answer is always the same: If you look at the science about what is happening on earth and aren’t pessimistic, you don’t understand data. But if you meet the people who are working to restore this earth and the lives of the poor, and you aren’t optimistic, you haven’t got a pulse.”

PeopleIfsWorldLooksEarthOrderJusticeAnswersPoorGraceHavensThis WorldWillingDespairHappeningsOrdinaryOptimisticDataOddsOrdinary PeoplePulsePessimisticSemblance
Author:Paul Hawken
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“Healing the wounds of the earth and its people does not require saintliness or a political party, only gumption and persistence. It is not a liberal or conservative activity; it is a sacred act.”

PeopleDoeEarthPoliticalPartyHealingActivitySacredClimate ChangeConservativeWoundsPersistencePolitical PartiesGumption
Book:Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Social Movement in History Is Restoring Grace, Justice, and Beau ty to the World
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“How is it that we have created an economic system that tells us it is cheaper to destroy the earth and exhaust its people than to nurture them both? Is it rational to have an pricing system which discounts the future and sells off the past? How did we create an economic system that confused capital liquidation with income?”

PeopleEarthPastEconomicSellsClimate ChangeIncomeRationalConfusedNurtureCheaperEconomic SystemsDiscountsPricing
Book:Natural Capitalism: The Next Industrial Revolution
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“If you look at the science that describes what is happening on earth today and aren't pessimistic, you don’t have the correct data. If you meet the people in this unnamed movement and aren't optimistic, you haven’t got a heart.”

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Book:Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Social Movement in History Is Restoring Grace, Justice, and Beau ty to the World
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“The problems to be faced are vast and complex, but come down to this: 6.6 billion people are breeding exponentially. The process of fulfilling their wants and needs is stripping earth of its biotic capacity to produce life; a climactic burst of consumption by a single species is overwhelming the skies, earth, waters, and fauna.”

PeopleWantNeedsProblemEarthProcessWaterSkyProduceCapacitySpeciesComplexesBillionsOverwhelmingConsumptionFulfillingBreedingStrippingWants And Needs
Author:Paul Hawken
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“There are insistent calls for autonomy, appeals for a new resource ethic based on the tradition of the commons, demands for the reinstatement of cultural primacy over corporate hegemony, and a rising demand for radical transparency in politics and corporate decision making. It has been said that environmentalism failed as a movement, or worse yet, died. It is the other way around. Everyone on earth will be an environmentalist in the not too distant future, driven there by necessity and experience.”

WayHas BeensSaidEarthDecisionMovementDemandEthicsResourcesTraditionDiedDrivenRadicalAppealsCorporateRisingDecision MakingAutonomyTransparencyEnvironmentalismEnvironmentalistHegemonyPrimacy
Book:Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Social Movement in History Is Restoring Grace, Justice, and Beau ty to the World
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“It is critical to realize that underlying the extermination of nature is the marginalization of human beings. If we are to save what is wild, what is irreparable and majestic in nature, then we will ironically have to turn to each other and take care of all the human beings here on Earth. There is no boundary that will protect an environment from a suffering humanity.”

IfsHumansCareEarthSufferingHumanityTurnsRealizingHuman BeingsEnvironmentProtectCriticalTake CareBoundariesMajesticNo BoundariesExterminationMarginalizationIrreparable
Author:Paul Hawken
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