“We, all of us in the First World, have participated in something of a binge, a half century of unbelievable prosperity and ease. We may have had some intuition that it was a binge and the earth couldn't support it, but aside from the easy things (biodegradable detergent, slightly smaller cars) we didn't do much. We didn't turn our lives around to prevent it. Our sadness is almost an aesthetic response - appropriate because we have marred a great, mad, profligate work of art, taken a hammer to the most perfectly proportioned of sculptures.” WorldFirstsMayArtEarthTurnsEasyHalfSupportTakenOur LivesSadnessCenturyCarMadResponseProsperityIntuitionEaseAppropriateWorks Of ArtAestheticConsumerismUnbelievableSculptureHammersOverconsumptionEasy ThingsBingeBiodegradable Author:Bill McKibben
“England was nothing, compared to continental nations until she had become commercial... until about the middle of the last century, when a number of ingenious and inventive men, without apparent relation to each other, arose in various parts of the kingdom, succeeded in giving an immense impulse to all the branches of the national industry; the result of which has been a harvest of wealth and prosperity, perhaps without a parallel in the history of the world.” MenWorldGivingHas BeensLastsNationsWealthResultsNumbersMiddleCenturyIndustryEnglandRelationProsperityVariousKingdomsImpulseBranchesImmenseHarvestWorld HistoryParallelsIngeniousContinental Author:Samuel Smiles
“This whole theory [of John Law and Jean Terrasson], as dear to French financial schemers in the eighteenth century as to American "Greenbackers" in the nineteenth, had resulted, under the Orleans Regency and Louis XV, in ruin to France financially and morally, had culminated in the utter destruction of all prosperity, the rooting out of great numbers of the most important industries, and the grinding down of the working people even to starvation.” PeopleImportantWholeLawNumbersCenturyTheoryIndustryDestructionFinancialDearProsperityRuinsFranceStarvation Author:Andrew Dickson White
“These movies belonged to the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries that period of great, unsustainable, and hedonistic prosperity, driven by the burning of Earth's reserves of perishable oil, which culminated in the False Tribulation, and the wars, and the plagues, and the painful dwindling of inflated populations to more reasonable numbers.” FirstsWarEarthNumbersCenturyPeriodsTwentiesPopulationPainfulProsperityOilDrivenBurningReasonableReservesPlagueTribulationHedonistic Book:Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America Source: Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America
“In Las Vegas, people seem to believe, the prosperity spawned by tourism and gaming can make them whole, financially and spiritually. Las Vegas now melds fun, work, and wealth, showing a path toward the brightest vistas of the post-industrial world. It is the first city of the twenty-first century.” PeopleWorldFirstsBelieveWholeSeemsFunWealthCitiesPathCenturyTwentiesProsperityPostsVegasLas VegasTourismGamingVistasFun Work Book:The Grit Beneath the Glitter: Tales from the Real Las Vegas Source: The Grit Beneath the Glitter: Tales from the Real Las Vegas
“From earliest times, water has always been acknowledged as a primary human good and an indispensable natural resource. Around the great rivers of the world, like the Mississippi, great cultures have developed, while over the course of the centuries the prosperity of countless societies has been linked to these waterways. Today, however, the great fluvial systems of every continent are exposed to serious threats, often as a result of man's activity and decisions.” MenWorldHumansHas BeensTodayCultureCoursesWaterNaturalDecisionResultsCenturySeriousActivityResourcesRiversThreatEnvironmentalProsperityPrimariesExposedContinentsIndispensableLinkedNatural ResourcesMississippi Author:Pope Benedict XVI
“Can our culture be reclaimed? How can we stay free in the next century? While people of other countries have been restricted m to pursue prosperity, bounded only by the limits of his or her imagination. Besides, only a conservative would ask how we can STAY prosperous and free in the 21st century. A liberal would whine that only a few are prosperous-the evil rich who have somehow gotten rich off the backs of the poor.” PeopleHas BeensCountryCultureEvilNextAsksImaginationPoorRichCenturyLimitsConservativeProsperityPursueOther Countries21st CenturyProsperous Author:Rush Limbaugh
“An unreflective passion for social justice may be one of the biggest obstacles to creating peace and prosperity in the 21st century. While there are most certainly factory owners in China whom we would rightly regard as criminal in their treatment of their workers, it is very important not to confuse these incidents with the phenomenon of globalization. It is a good thing that Wal-Mart is encouraging more humane standards in its supplier's factories.” MayImportantPassionSocialJusticeBusinessCenturyCreatingStandardsRegardSocial JusticeGood ThingsWorkersProsperityObstaclesChinaCriminalsTreatmentOwnersPhenomenonFactories21st CenturyGlobalizationHumaneIncidentsSuppliersBiggest ObstaclesCreating Peace Author:Michael Strong