“The country that owns green, that dominates that industry, is going to have the most energy security, national security, economic security, competitive companies, healthy population and, most of all, global respect.” CountryEnergyCompanyEconomicSecurityIndustryHealthyGreenPopulationNational SecurityEconomic SecurityEnergy Security Author:Thomas Friedman
“The money economy thus leaves a large ecological footprint, defined as the amount of land and resources required to meet a typical consumer's needs. For example, with only about 4% of the world's population, the United States, the largest money economy, consumes in excess of one-quarter of the world's energy and materials and generates in excess of 25 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions.” WorldNeedsStatesEnergyUnitedUnited StatesEconomyLandExampleMaterialsAmountPercentResourcesPopulationDefinedConsumersGasQuartersExcessConsumerismTypicalEmissionsEcologicalFootprintOverconsumptionGreenhousesGreenhouse GasesEcological Footprints Author:Stuart L. Hart
“Even if nonpolluting power were feasible and abundant, the use of energy on a massive scale acts on society like a drug that is physically harmless but psychically enslaving. A community can choose between Methadone and "cold turkey"-between maintaining its addiction to alien energy and kicking it in painful cramps-but no society can have a population that is hooked on progressively larger numbers of energy slaves and whose members are also autonomously active.” IfsUseEnergyCommunityNumbersColdDrugMembersSlaveAddictionPopulationPainfulActiveScalesAliensAlternativesMassiveTurkeysMaintainingKickingHookedCrampsKicking ItCold TurkeyMethadone Author:Ivan Illich
“The gap between the rich and poor is growing among and within most nations. The political and social effects of unequal location of energy and other mineral resources are acute. Population numbers continue to climb. The global environment shows signs of widespread deterioration. Both natural and social environments are increasingly vulnerable to catastrophic disturbances... There may, however, be a cheering challenge in the possibility that out of its struggle with these realities the human race may move a bit nearer to behaving as if it were indeed one family.” IfsHumansMayShowsRealityMovingPoliticalEnergyNationsSocialBitsNaturalChallengesPoorNumbersRaceStruggleRichEnvironmentGrowingEffectsPossibilityResourcesEnvironmentalPopulationVulnerableHuman RaceClimbsGapsCheerLocationRich And PoorDisturbanceMineralsDeteriorationSocial EnvironmentMineral Resources Author:Gilbert F. White
“It's never a good idea to organize society in a way that depletes the energy of half the population.” WayIdeasEnergyHalfPopulationGood IdeasOrganize Author:Susan Cain
“You really do have to wonder whether a few years from now we’ll look back at the first decade of the 21st century — when food prices spiked, energy prices soared, world population surged, tornados plowed through cities, floods and droughts set records, populations were displaced and governments were threatened by the confluence of it all — and ask ourselves: What were we thinking? How did we not panic when the evidence was so obvious that we’d crossed some growth/climate/natural resource/population redlines all at once?” ThinkingWorldYearsFirstsLooksGovernmentAsksEnergyGrowthNaturalCitiesWonderRecordsCenturyEvidenceResourcesClimatePopulationObviousDecadesPanicFlood21st CenturyThreatenedNatural ResourcesDroughtWorld PopulationConfluence Author:Thomas Friedman
“Climate change isn't just an environmental issue; it's a technology, water, food, energy, population issue. None of this happens in a vacuum.” HappensEnergyWaterTechnologyIssuesClimateEnvironmentalClimate ChangePopulationVacuumsEnvironmental Issues Author:David Titley
“Everything we think about regarding sustainability - from energy to agriculture to manufacturing to population - has a water footprint. Almost all of the water on Earth is salt water, and the remaining freshwater supplies are split between agricultural use and human use - as well as maintaining the existing natural environment.” ThinkingHumansWellsUseEarthEnergyWaterNaturalEnvironmentPopulationSustainabilitySaltSplitsAgricultureMaintainingManufacturingSuppliesFootprintNatural EnvironmentSalt Water Author:Jamais Cascio