“I'm a big fan of Chris Hedges and Joe Sacco's book Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt, where they visit what they call The Sacrifice Zones of America and report on the current state of our environmental calamity.” BookStatesBigsAmericaSacrificeFansDestructionEnvironmentalCurrentsReportsZoneCalamityOur EnvironmentRevolt Author:Alexander Weinstein
“The international human rights framework is a vital component and engine for promoting global values. Governments have signed up to this international legal framework and we should hold them accountable, in all circumstances from environmental or labour standards, to trade talks, arms control and security issues as well as other international legal codes.” ShouldHumansWellsGovernmentValuesIssuesRightsSecurityArmsCircumstancesStandardsTradeEnvironmentalInternationalHuman RightsCodeLabourEnginesComponentsPromotingFramework Author:Mary Robinson
“The term 'human rights' has been too often associated with conditionality, and with concerns of developing countries that in order to benefit from open trade they would be required to implement immediately labour and environmental standards of a comparable level to those applied in industrialised countries. At the same time, debates about the primacy of trade as against human rights legal codes have contributed to maintaining the unfortunate impression that the two bodies of law are pursuing incompatible aims.” HumansHas BeensTwoCountryBodyWould BeLawOrderTermLevelsRightsBenefitsStandardsConcernAimTradeEnvironmentalHuman RightsDebateImpressionDevelopingCodeLabourUnfortunateMaintainingDeveloping CountriesPrimacy Author:Mary Robinson
“Democrats in environmental agencies tend to be more sensitive to environmental harm. And Republicans tend to be more sensitive to business harm.” RepublicanDemocratEnvironmentalHarmSensitiveAgency Author:David Brooks
“Hormones influencing the sensitivity of the person to environmental stimuli.” PersonsInfluenceEnvironmentalSensitivityStimulusHormones Author:Robert M. Sapolsky
“I think that when it comes to issues of trade, I think it is important for us to be in favor of trade, but I also think it is important to make sure that we are putting in place the labor standards, the environmental standards, that are going to provide some of a fighting chance for American workers.” ThinkingImportantFightingChanceIssuesStandardsLaborTradeEnvironmentalWorkersFavorsAmerican Workers Author:Barack Obama
“[Barack Obama] was running for Senate and he's saying, I'm not for gay marriage because I'm a Christian. Jump off a bridge! I mean what the hell are you talking about? You know, I mean, what's he doing now? He's evolving. Evolving? Well, evolve for Christ's sake! And this is a guy - the whole gay community, and the whole environmental community and all these other people said, he's our guy.” PeopleKnowsWellsMeanSaidWholeRunningChristianGuyChristCommunityTalkingHellGayEnvironmentalSakeBarackEvolveBridgesSenateGay MarriageGay Community Author:Bill Ayers
“The government of Qatar, as I mentioned, has proposed to come and lease Kenya's Tana River delta in order to farm there. What I am not sure of is, has an environmental impact assessment been made to ensure that exploiting this delta for agricultural activities is the best way we can use the delta?We must be concerned about the long-term impact of agricultural activities in the delta.” WayLongMadeUseGovernmentOrderTermActivityConcernedRiversImpactEnvironmentalBest WayLong TermNot SureFarmsAssessmentKenyaLeaseDeltaQatarEnvironmental Impact Author:Wangari Maathai
“Business is a noble vocation, directed to producing wealth and improving the world. It can be a fruitful source of prosperity for the area in which it operates, especially if it sees the creation of jobs as an essential part of its service to the common good. This common good also includes the earth... the environmental challenge we are undergoing, and its human roots, concern and affect us all.” IfsWorldHumansEarthJobsChallengesWealthCommonCreationSourceEssentialsAreasConcernRootsEnvironmentalProsperityNobleImprovingVocationCommon GoodEnvironmental Challenges Author:Pope Francis
“I think we should be prepared, given environmental and political change for large-scale migration. If sea levels rise and 200 million people in Bangladesh and 300 million people in Indonesia need to move, and the entire Chinese seaboard, New York City - that's going to be huge.” PeopleIfsThinkingNeedsShouldMovingPoliticalGivenLevelsCitiesMillionsSeaNew YorkHugePreparedEnvironmentalScalesChineseNew York CityBe PreparedIndonesiaMigrationLarge ScaleBangladeshPolitical ChangeSea Level Rise Author:Mohsin Hamid
“The focus of environmental ethics should indeed be on the virtues and how these inform our relationship to natural environments.” ShouldNaturalVirtueEnvironmentFocusEthicsEnvironmentalOur RelationshipNatural Environment Author:David E. Cooper
“I'm very sceptical about the prospects for 'big' environmental causes - 'saving the planet', halving the world's population, ending the exploitation of animals, and so on - but a person can ask him- or herself how he or she personally may exercise compassion or humility towards animals, vegetal life and so on.” WorldMayPersonsBigsAsksCausesAnimalCompassionHumilityPlanetsExerciseEnvironmentalPopulationSavingExploitationProspects Author:David E. Cooper
“For me, architecture is an art the same as painting is an art or sculpture is an art. Yet, architecture moves a step beyond painting and sculpture because it is more than using materials. Architecture responds to functional outputs and environmental factors. Yet, fundamentally, it is important for me to stress the art in architecture to bring harmony.” ArtImportantMovingStepsPaintingMaterialsStressHarmonyEnvironmentalArchitectureFactorsSculptureOutputEnvironmental Factors Author:Santiago Calatrava
“We must encourage energy conservation and sustainable development. Young people are the ones who are most environmentally conscious in Ireland, so that to some extent they are educating their parents. They are tackling issues of waste disposal and so on. The schools help, because they put a lot of stress on environmental awareness.” PeopleHelpingSchoolYoungEnergyParentIssuesAwarenessDevelopmentWasteConsciousStressEnvironmentalIrelandConservationSustainable DevelopmentTacklingEnergy ConservationWaste Disposal Author:Mary Robinson
“We need more emphasis on linking jobs and economic progress with environmental issues, and not allowing environmentally damaging industries to be brought into the country simply to provide employment. It's not easy to balance.” NeedsCountryJobsEasyIssuesProgressEconomicIndustryBalanceEnvironmentalEmploymentAllowingEmphasisEnvironmental IssuesEconomic Progress Author:Mary Robinson
“If the Chinese business community takes the Declaration of Human Rights, core labor standards, and environmental standards seriously, the government of China will take them far more seriously, too.” IfsHumansGovernmentCommunityRightsStandardsLaborEnvironmentalHuman RightsChinaCoreChineseDeclarationDeclaration Of Human Rights Author:Mary Robinson
“America is run by corporations, it is run by banks and Wall Street. That's why we can't get guns under control. It's because all these lobbyists don't want gun control, they don't want us to have strong environmental safety guards. Young people can become aware of that and they are the most powerful lobby. With a click of a text, you can have millions of people voting for one person.” PeopleWantPersonsRunningAmericaYoungStrongPowerfulMillionsStreetsWallGunSafetyEnvironmentalCorporationsVotingMost PowerfulGun ControlWant UClicksLobbyists Author:Patti Smith
“Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone.” MenBeliefFunBusinessHuman NatureCapitalismEconomicsEnvironmentalGoodCorporationsPolitical IdeologyAmerican Capitalism Author:John Maynard Keynes
“The good news is that there is strong movement in this direction of shifting from domination systems to partnership systems. Over the past several hundred years, one progressive movement after another has challenged traditions of domination - from the 18th century "rights of man" movement challenging the "divinely ordained right" of kings to rule their "subjects" to today's environmental movement challenging the once hallowed "conquest of nature."” MenYearsTodayPastStrongChallengesRightsSubjectsCenturyMovementKingsNewsHundredTraditionEnvironmentalProgressivePartnershipGood NewsConquestDominationShiftingOver The Past18th CenturyYear OneProgressive Movement Author:Riane Eisler
“We can't just tack on environmental balance to a fundamentally imbalanced system.” BalanceEnvironmental Author:Riane Eisler
“My feeling is that a human being or any complex organism has a system of cognitive structures that develop much in the way the physical organs of the body develop. That is, in their fundamental character they are innate; their basic form is determined by the genetic structure of the organism. Of course, they grow under particular environmental conditions, assuming a specific form that admits of some variation. Much of what is distinctive among human beings is a specific manner in which a variety of shared cognitive structures develop.” WayHumansCharacterFeelingsBodyFormCoursesGrowsHuman BeingsConditionsParticularFundamentalsStructureAssumingComplexesEnvironmentalDeterminedVarietyOrgansOrganismsInnateVariationCognitiveDistinctive Author:Noam Chomsky
“I do not see how we can rationally oppose high speed rail because of the environmental and other costs without considering the social and human consequences of the radical elimination of transportation that this entails.” HumansSocialCostConsequenceEnvironmentalSpeedRadicalConsideringTransportationRailEliminationHigh SpeedHigh Speed Rail Author:Noam Chomsky
“When people denounced [former Iranian president Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad for rejecting and criminalizing homosexuality, it should be remembered that was true of the United States until very recently. Women's rights were unheard of. Civil rights proponents were horribly treated, not just in the South. It was awful there, but pretty bad here. Environmental issues did not exist. Opposition to aggression was virtually zero. In fact, so little, that to this day, even scholarship mentions the Vietnam War as beginning in 1965.” PeopleShouldLittlesWarStatesFactsPresidentUnitedUnited StatesIssuesRightsSouthEnvironmentalTreatedCivil RightsAwfulFormerRememberedOppositionThis DayZeroVietnamAggressionWomens RightsHomosexualityScholarshipVietnam WarIranianRejectingUnheardEnvironmental Issues Author:Noam Chomsky
“I am always a little skeptical on the water thing because I have been hearing that for 30 years, but one year it's going to be true. With the rising populations, Yemen could be the first country in the world, or Sana'a the first major city in the world, to run out of water, that's from Yemeni hydrological engineers and the United Nations. Sooner or later, all of these people, from 7 to 9 billion, all of them want to live like America, will be consuming so much more water that some of the societies will hit a wall without more sustainable environmental practices.” PeopleWorldWantYearsFirstsLittlesHas BeensCountryRunningAmericaNationsWaterUnitedCitiesPracticeWallMajorsEnvironmentalPopulationHearingBillionsBeing TrueRisingEngineersSooner Or LaterUnited NationsSkepticalConsumingCities In The WorldYemenSana Author:Thomas Friedman
“In Cuba, what we do not accept is the comparison of our participatory democracy with bourgeois democracy which has not solved anything for humanity. The only thing it has done is to take humanity towards a precarious point. They have created the environmental crisis, the food crisis, the water crisis and the pandemics all over the world. The reason for that is because they have taken the majority of the resources and given it to militarism paid for by the western powers because it is a great business for them; this is the real truth.” WorldRealReasonDoneHumanityGivenWaterAcceptingDemocracyTakenResourcesPaidCrisisMajorityEnvironmentalWesternComparisonCubaBourgeoisPrecariousMilitarismGreat BusinessPandemicsReal TruthEnvironmental CrisisParticipatory DemocracyWater Crisis Author:Alejandro Castro Espin
“If you think that we've overregulated in the environmental space what I can show you is that we have tripled the amount of wind power in this country, increased by tenfold the amount of solar power. We are producing as much oil and gas as we've ever produced.” IfsThinkingI CanCountryShowsSpaceWindAmountEnvironmentalOilGasOil And GasSolar PowerWind Power Author:Barack Obama
“I was always a mad scientist type - an inventor and just a generally inventive person, and that has remained the same. But one thing that *has* changed is that I've always been aggressively pro-business, with the mentality that whoever pays me, gets me - but now, I'd rather be broke than contribute to destroying the world my son is inheriting - both the social fabric, and obviously the environmental.” WorldPersonsSocialPayOne ThingChangedSonTypeScientistMadEnvironmentalBrokeMy SonDestroyingMentalityFabricInventorMad Scientist Author:Sam Lamott
“The interesting thing is, everybody focuses on the global warming as an environmental issue, as something outside our daily lives. But actually the impact of global warming is with us today. Communities are suffering. Communities in poor countries are the ones paying the price, they are not the ones who are polluting, and we need to help them adapt.” NeedsCountryHelpingTodaySufferingCommunityInterestingPoorIssuesImpactEnvironmentalGlobal WarmingDaily LifeInteresting ThingsPoor CountriesEnvironmental Issues Author:Kofi Annan
“The problem is the total opening of borders and allowing the law of the jungle to prevail: The further a company goes today to find slaves, which it then treats like animals and pays a pittance, without regard for environmental laws, the more it earns.” ProblemTodayLawAnimalPayCompanyTreatsRegardSlaveEnvironmentalOpeningBordersAllowingJungle Author:Marine Le Pen
“Bolivia is in the lead internationally in talking about the threat of environmental catastrophe. It's generally true where there are indigenous populations, there are important things happening; where the indigenous populations have been marginalized or exterminated, things go to a disaster. This is true worldwide, and Bolivia is striking because it's a majority population and in the lead.” Has BeensImportantTalkingHappeningsImportant ThingsMajorityThreatEnvironmentalPopulationDisasterThings HappenCatastropheIndigenousMarginalizedBolivia Author:Noam Chomsky
“I don't think people are like, "I'm going to save the planet by planting my own herbs." But on environmental issues like climate change, there's a sense of hopelessness and despair. Maybe it's really a small gesture but if you can have a garden it may make you feel like you're helping in some way, or that you're making a connection. You can't change the world but you can change your backyard.” PeopleThinkingWorldHelpingLike YouDespairGardenEnvironmentalClimate ChangeChanging The WorldHopelessnessSave The Planet Author:Novella Carpenter
“There are too many bad policy choices to go into that are being pushed by the Trump Administration, but the relaxation of environmental regulations and corporate and banking regulations alone are enough to keep me busy and should be a big concern for every citizen who isn't a billionaire and likes to breathe air.” EnoughChoicesPolicyConcernEnvironmentalBusyBreatheRelaxationBillionaire Author:Shepard Fairey
“The environmental agenda before the Congress includes laws to deal with water pollution, pesticide hazards, ocean dumping, excessive noise, careless land development and many other environmental problems. These problems will not stand still for politics or for partisanship.” ProblemWaterOceanEnvironmentalPollution Author:Richard M. Nixon
“I think one of the things that's happening is that people are realizing that they can't pass the buck to the government because the government, at least as far it comes to environmental protection, doesn't exist. That they're going to have to bite the bullet a little bit themselves. Look, there are no silver linings to Trumpism. This is an unmitigated disaster. But let's hope that at least it helps people find their courage in this resistance.” PeopleThinkingHelpingRealizingEnvironmentalProtectionDisasterSilver Author:Donald Trump
“My advice to everybody would be to go out as much as possible and deal with social inequality and environmental degradation because these issues are increasingly prescient.” AdviceEnvironmentalInequality Author:David Harvey
“It takes 10 years to get all the permits to build a bridge today. Ten years? What happened to the good old can-do America? Where is "We get it done, we work together"? We've become this bureaucratic, stifling environment. I'm not talking about violating environmental things - I'm talking about building a bridge, getting things going, getting people to work together.” PeopleDoneTodayTogetherEnvironmentBuildingEnvironmentalWorking Together Author:Jamie Dimon
“I wonder what kind of environmental consciousness is to be developed in a family or a community where nature is seen as either an optional thing, not accessible to you, or something completely exotic, unwelcome.” KindCommunityConsciousnessWonderEnvironmental Author:Kyo Maclear
“There are social and environmental impacts. You might be working with a factory that underpays its staff or mistreats its workers, or mishandles the dyes. I think that conscious fashion, fashion for our soul, needs to keep pushing that needle towards being better and more mindful.” ThinkingSoulFashionConsciousEnvironmentalMistreat Author:Maria Cornejo
“I'm a novelist and science writer. I wrote a book about human impacts on marine mammals caused by agricultural drainage of nutrients on our coasts, and another book about evolution. Seasteading captivated me because it incorporates both evolution and environmental restoration.” BookEvolutionEnvironmentalMarine Author:Joe Quirk
“We certainly would resolve the problems of the charities that are working in areas where they can do the most good. So if you consider that the U.S. foreign aid budget is 30 billion, yes, we could make a major contribution to reducing global poverty, start to deal much better with some of the other big environmental problems that the world faces. So I think we could solve a lot of problems.” ThinkingWorldProblemPovertyCharityEnvironmentalAidsResolve Author:Peter Singer
“I argue for a relational conception of the person as a basis for an environmental ethic that can encourage us to preserve the environment not solely on the basis of satisfying human interests and not solely because we might attribute intrinsic value to the environment, but because the environment is something with which we can potentially enter into constructive relationship, as part of what makes us who we are or transform who we are and open us up to new interests.” ValuesInterestEnvironmentEthicsEnvironmentalArguing Author:David Wong
“Donald Trump is withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement because he wants to lower environmental standards for American products and manufacture more cheaply. His reasoning is quite simple, but very shortsighted. It won't succeed because, by doing so, Trump is missing a golden opportunity to modernize American industry.” OpportunitySimpleMissingSucceedEnvironmental Author:Martin Schulz
“I guess the revival of vinyl records is not helping the environmental problem. Although, in some ways, people don't throw records away - I mean, I still have records from when I was 5. So it doesn't seem quite so wasteful. But maybe I'm just lying to myself.” PeopleMeanHelpingProblemLyingEnvironmentalRevivalVinyl Author:John Flansburgh
“Ah, summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it.” SufferingNatureEnvironmentSummerEnvironmentalSummertimeSummer DaysEnd Of SummerHot DaysShort SummerSummer GardenHot SummerSummer InspirationalGreat SummerHappy Summer Author:Russell Baker
“In the near future, despite the development of alternative energy, when you look at the economics and environmental standards, then there's no other source of primary energy in the world than natural gas. Well, perhaps there is nuclear energy but there are also a lot of issues there and there are opponents of nuclear energy. Gas doesn't have those opponents. But there is a country that is, obviously, the world leader in gas reserves. That's our country, the Russian Federation.” WorldCountryEnergyNaturalLeaderEnvironmentalGasWorld LeaderNatural GasAlternative Energy Author:Vladimir Putin
“I used to go to all the environmental conferences when I wasn't an invited speaker. I was just somebody in the back taking a lot of notes. It was when I was least visible that I came up with the most cool stuff. Now, because I don't get to be Clark Kent, I feel like my learning curve is slowing way down. I'm always afraid the conversation will move on and I'll be up at the front of the room saying last year's speech.” MovingEnvironmentalSpeakers Author:Van Jones
“I see myself as a human being. You're right, I am an American, I do live in Utah, and I am deeply ashamed about the decisions our President is making around the world, in our name: the war in Iraq, his continued denial about global warming, the wholesale degradation of the environment on every level. Since September 11, 2001, I have come to believe that there are many forms of terrorism, and environmental degradation is one of them. We have to transcend our government and relate to each other as human beings first and Americans second and feel both our local and global responsibilities.” WorldBelieveWarPresidentDecisionResponsibilityEnvironmentEnvironmentalTerrorismDenialAshamedGlobal WarmingSeptemberSeptember 11September 11 2001 Author:Terry Tempest Williams
“My view is, in between environmental determinism and personal responsibility, we say, "where there's a will there's a way." It's not true. You really need both and they're somewhat independent. We must both cultivate will and pave the way. If you inspire an impassioned people so that they have the will but there's no way, all around them are walls with no doors or windows. It's terribly frustrating. On the other hand, if you put a very nice way at their feet and they have no will to follow it, that doesn't produce anything very good either. Will is not way. You need both.” PeopleResponsibilityNiceInspireWallWindowIndependentEnvironmentalVery GoodFrustratingPersonal ResponsibilityVery NiceDeterminism Author:David Katz
“We don't control everything. There are genetic influences. There are environmental exposures we don't control. I cannot guarantee anyone I counsel that by following what I hope is the good advice I offer them, they will live long and prosper. That's what I'm hoping for but I can't guarantee that. What I can tell them is this: "Look, I can help you firmly grip the wheel, and you can steer the ship. You're never going to control the winds and you're never going to control the seas. But if you sail well you can get through just about anything."” LongHelpingInfluenceAdviceEnvironmentalSailGood Advice Author:David Katz
“My wish list is pretty short. I wish that we had empathy. As a society, we are so wrapped up in our own artificial creations that we have become disconnected from one another and the wonder of our natural world. I truly believe that empathy is the key to solving the majority of our environmental and social problems.” WorldBelieveProblemWishNaturalWonderCreationEmpathyEnvironmentalNatural WorldOur EnvironmentMy Wish Author:Adrian Grenier