Home / Quotes / Quote by Paul R. Ehrlich

Quote by Paul R. Ehrlich

“People have to decide, first of all, how they'd like to live, and how secure they want to be from disaster. After that, scientists can help determine what would be necessary to achieve that.”

Quote by Paul R. Ehrlich

Author

Paul R. Ehrlich

Paul R. Ehrlich is a renowned population biologist known for his research on population ecology and biodiversity. Born on May 29, 1932, he is an advocate for the issues of population explosion and biodiversity, authoring the influential book 'The Population Bomb.' His work has had a profound impact on global environmental issues. more

You May Also Like

“All scientists who've looked at it know we have to phase away from burning fossil fuels. That means we've got to put a lot of effort into alternate energy technologies, but we're still subsidizing fossil fuels and not subsidizing most of the alternatives. It's not going to be an easy transition.”

Knows Mean Stills Energy Easy Effort Technology Scientist Burning Alternatives Fuel Transition Phases Fossils Fossil Fuel Burning Fossil Fuels

Author:Paul R. Ehrlich

“Sometimes I think the Congress feels that if you only decided tomorrow to switch to wind power that in two years we'd be getting 80 percent of our electricity from wind power. It's nonsense. Normally it takes 20 to 30 years after a new technology is demonstrated and deployed before it powers even 15 or 20 percent of the grid. There's this long lag time, and we haven't even decided which directions to go.”

Ifs Thinking Feels Years Long Two Sometimes Technology Havens Wind Tomorrow Percent Decided Congress Nonsense Two Years Electricity New Technology Grids Lag Wind Power

Author:Paul R. Ehrlich

“Chinese are already more on board than we are. China is the only country that actually discussed in formal government documents how important it is to control the size of your populations if you’re going to limit emissions.”

Ifs Important Country Government Limits Size Population China Chinese Boards Documents Formal Emissions

Author:Paul R. Ehrlich

“People have not made the connection that the more of us there are, the more greenhouse gases go into the atmosphere. The Chinese have. They, unlike us, have a population policy. The right wingers just don't understand that the country they're in is probably the most overpopulated in the world, the one doing most of the destruction, and the one with horrendously bad leadership.”

People World Made Country Policy Connections Destruction Population Chinese Atmosphere Right Wing Greenhouses Greenhouse Gases

Author:Paul R. Ehrlich

“I kind of like carbon taxes because we already know how to apply them. We already have apparatus in place. When we talk about these other solutions - like a billion tons of iron filings in the ocean or putting sunshades between us and the sun - they're huge. We have no idea if they will work. We have no idea what their nasty consequences might be. And it's unlikely we can do them anyway.”

Ifs Knows Kind Ideas Might Can Do Know How Sun Huge Taxes Ocean Solutions Consequence Billions No Idea Iron Nasty Carbon Unlikely Filing Carbon Tax

Author:Paul R. Ehrlich

“With taxes, if they aren't working right, we can change them with a stroke of the pen. It's basically a market-type mechanism. People make their own choices. You run the taxes, and you get the results.”

People Ifs Running Choices Results Type Taxes Pens Mechanism Strokes

Author:Paul R. Ehrlich

“You take the huge income that comes with a big gas tax, and you use it to pay off regressive taxes like the FICA [Federal Insurance Contributions Act] tax. You can help the poor in other ways besides giving them cheap gas. You want to send the message that people want to be as efficient as possible using gasoline until we can transition away from that need entirely.”

People Way Want Needs Giving Helping Use Bigs Poor Pay Huge Taxes Messages Income Contribution Gas Transition Efficient Gasoline Help The Poor

Author:Paul R. Ehrlich

“There are lots of excellent analysts out there. John Holdren at the Harvard Kennedy School, who was just president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, has been talking about this stuff for years. There are lots of people out there who understand what’s going on. The problem is, they aren’t much picked up on Fox News.”

People Years Has Beens Problem School Stuff President Talking News Excellent Association Foxes Advancement Harvard Analysts Fox News Advancement Of Science

Author:Paul R. Ehrlich

“Here's the scientific community saying, fundamentally, "If we don't change our ways, we're screwed." And they got no attention at all. Even though the Union of Concerned Scientists put out this statement which was signed by more than half of all the Nobel laureates in science and another 1,500 distinguished scientists.”

Ifs Way Community Attention Half Concerned Scientist Unions Statements Distinguished Nobel Don't Change

Author:Paul R. Ehrlich

“The main thing is, and of course this is a pedant talking, we should start our education on these issues in kindergarten. Instead of saying, "See Spot run," we ought to say, "See the plant grow in the sun." We ought to explain what runs the weather in the third or fourth grade to start out with.”

Should Running Courses Grows Talking Sun Issues Ought Thirds Plant Weather Spots Grades Fourth Kindergarten Pedants Fourth Grade

Author:Paul R. Ehrlich