“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
“Indeed, as we begin the twenty-first century, the money and traditional economies are slowly destroying their own support system. Increasing demands of the two economies are surpassing the sustainable yields of the ecosystems that underpin them. For example, one-third of the world's cropland is losing topsoil at a rate that is undermining its long-term productivity, fully half of the world's rangeland is overgrazed and deteriorating into desert, and the world's forests have shrunk by about half since the dawn of agriculture and are continuing to shrink.” WorldFirstsLongTwoTermHalfSupportEconomyLandCenturyExampleDemandLosingThirdsTwentiesRateProductivityForestsTraditionalDesertDawnLong TermYieldDestroyingContinuingAgricultureShrinksEcosystemsUnderminingSupport SystemsSurpassingDeterioratingTopsoil Author:Stuart L. Hart
“[The right] may never bring prayer back to schools, but it has rescued all manner of rightwing economic nostrums from history's dustbins. Having rolled back the landmark economic reforms of the sixties (the war on poverty) and those of the thirties (labor law, agricultural price supports, banking regulation), its leaders now turn their guns on the accomplishments of the earliest years of progressivism (Woodrow Wilson's estate tax; Theodore Roosevelt's anti-trust measures). With a little more effort, the backlash may well repeal the entire twentieth century.” YearsWellsMayLittlesWarSchoolLawTurnsPrayerEffortLeaderPovertySupportEconomicCenturyTaxesGunLaborReformAccomplishmentRegulationSixtyEstatesBankingTwentieth CenturyWilsonLandmarksBacklashProgressivismTheodoreWar On PovertyDustbinLabor LawsEconomic ReformsEstate Taxes Author:Thomas Frank
“Twentieth-century developments in science support a new animism. Developments in physics have led to a world of energetic events which seem to be self-moving and to behave in unpredictable ways. And recent studies in biology seem to demonstrate that bacteria and macromolecules have elemental forms of perception, memory, choice, and self-motion.” WorldWaySelfSeemsMovingFormChoicesMemoriesSupportStudyCenturyEventsDevelopmentPerceptionPhysicsBehaveBiologyUnpredictableTwentieth CenturyEnergeticElementalsBacteriaAnimism Book:God and Religion in the Postmodern World: Essays in Postmodern Theology Source: God and Religion in the Postmodern World: Essays in Postmodern Theology
“The twentieth century provides little or no evidence in any corner of the globe to support the contention that religion causes most human conflict.” HumansLittlesReligionCausesSupportCenturyConflictEvidenceCornersGlobesTwentieth CenturyContention Author:Michael Medved
“After a quarter of a century of personal experience and professional observation, I have come to understand that peace of mind is the true goal of the considered life. I know now that the sum of all other possessions does not necessarily add up to peace of mind; on the other hand, I have seen this inner tranquility flourish without the material supports of property or even the buttress of physical health. Peace of mind can transform a cottage into a spacious manor hall; the want of it can make a regal residence an imprisoning shell.” KnowsWantMindDoeHandsPeaceGoalSupportCenturyMaterialsAddPropertyPossessionObservationPeace Of MindHallsQuartersShellsTranquilityPersonal ExperiencesCottagesPhysical HealthResidenceRegalQuarter Of A Century Author:Joshua L. Liebman
“In every major war we have fought in the 19th and 20th centuries. Americans have been asked to pay higher taxes - and nonessential programs have been cut - to support the military effort. Yet during this Iraq war, taxes have been lowered and domestic spending has climbed. In contrast to World War I, World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam, for most Americans this conflict has entailed no economic sacrifice. The only people really sacrificing for this war are the troops and their families.” PeopleWorldHas BeensWarEffortPaySupportCuttingSacrificeEconomicCenturyMilitaryHigherConflictTaxesMajorsProgramIraqSpendingWar Of The WorldsVietnamWorld War IiContrastWorld War ITroops20th CenturyKoreanIraq WarKorean War Author:Robert Hormats