Home / Quotes / Quote by James H. Cone

Quote by James H. Cone

“While the rich reap most of the benefits of technological development, the poor bear an unequal burden of dealing with the consequences of the resulting increased pollution. The poor continue to live in greatest proximity to the sources of pollution, the infrastructure and machinery of industry. They work in the most polluted and physically dangerous workplaces. And these same individuals, living and working closest to the sources of environmental catastrophe, are also the ones most lacking decent health care.”

Quote by James H. Cone

Author

James H. Cone is a renowned theologian and writer, best known for his contributions to the field of liberation theology. His work delves into the relationship between race, justice, and theology, profoundly impacting contemporary theological thought. more

You May Also Like

“Who would have predicted a century ago that the richest civilizations in history would be made up of polluted tracts of suburban development dominated by the private automobile, shopping malls, and a throwaway economy? Surely, this is not the ultimate fulfillment of our destiny.”

Made Would Be Destiny Economy Century Development Civilization Ultimate Environmental Fulfillment Shopping Pollution Our Destiny Automobile Malls

Author:Alan Thein Durning

“You know that the air and water are being polluted, as is everything we touch and live with, and we go on corrupting the nature that we need. We don't realize we have a commitment to God to take care of nature. To cut down a tree, to waste water when there is so much lack of it, to let buses poison our atmosphere with those noxious fumes from their exhausts, to burn rubbish haphazardly-all that concerns our alliance with God.”

Knows Needs Care Water Realizing Cutting Air Tree Goes On Waste Commitment Concern Environmental Take Care Atmosphere Poison Bus Pollution Alliances Commitment To God Rubbish Air And Water

Author:Oscar Romero

“... we find ourselves facing a rising tide of biologically active, synthetic organic chemicals. Some tinker with our hormones. Some attach themselves to our chromosomes and trigger mutations. Some cripple the immune system. Some light up our genes and so enhance the production of certain enzymes. If we could metabolize these chemicals into completely benign breakdown products and excrete them, they would pose less of a hazard. Instead, a good many of them accumulate.”

“Asbestos, EMFs, and CFCs have given us a degree of humility. When yesterday's "triumph of modern chemistry" turns out instead to be today's deadly threat to the global environment, it is legitimate to ask what else we don't know.”

Knows Today Turns Asks Given Environment Modern Humility Degrees Threat Environmental Yesterday Triumph Chemistry Pollution Asbestos

Author:Denis Hayes

“Before Alar, there was EDB, a potent human carcinogen allowed in the grain supply and other food for more than a decade after it was known to be dangerous. There was heptachlor, linked to leukemia, and aldicarb, which poisoned thousands of California watermelons, yet is still allowed in potatoes and bananas at levels exposing up to 80,000 children a day to what EPA itself says are unacceptable high risks. Trust the government? Why should we?”

Should Humans Children Stills Government Levels Known Risk Dangerous Environmental Decades California Pollution Grain Linked Potatoes Bananas Exposing High Risk Leukemia Epa

Author:Al Meyerhoff

“Children whose developing lungs are particularly vulnerable suffer the most from air pollution. For children, breathing the air in cities with the worst pollution, such as Beijing, Calcutta, Mexico City, Shanghai, and Tehran, is equivalent to smoking two packs of cigarettes a day.”

“Corporate polluters, their phony think tanks and political toadies like to marginalize environmentalists as tree huggers, or radicals. But there is nothing radical about clean air or water.”

Thinking Political Water Air Tree Clean Environmental Radical Corporate Pollution Tanks Phony Environmentalist Clean Air Toady

Author:Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

“Draconian limits on economic growth and on the use of the automobile should not be necessary in order to give Americans clean air at levels they are willing to pay for, but it will require significant Federal, State, and local leadership and innovative approaches from government and industry.”

“Finally, since human beings are uniquely capable of producing materials not found in nature, environmental degradation may be due to the resultant intrusion into an ecosystem of a substance wholly foreign to it.”

Humans May Found Human Beings Materials Capable Environmental Dues Substance Pollution Degradation Ecosystems Intrusion Environmental Degradation

Author:Barry Commoner

“Perhaps the simplest example is a synthetic plastic, which unlike natural materials, is not degraded by biological decay. It therefore persists as rubbish or is burned-in both cases causing pollution. In the same way, a substance such as DDT or lead, which plays no role in the chemistry of life and interferes with the actions of substances that do, is bound to cause ecological damage if sufficiently concentrated.”