“We are not talking about esthetics. We are talking about life: survival of Man. We must train young people to get another vision of Nature. We call it 'wilderness,' and we think it is progress to get further and further away from it. How crazy! Where would we have been if Nature had not built us up?” PeopleIfsThinkingMenHas BeensYoungTalkingVisionProgressCrazySurvivalBuiltTrainEnvironmentalWildernessNot Talking Author:Thor Heyerdahl
“The affluent society has built well in terms of economic progress, but has neglected the protection of the very water we drink as well as the values of fish and wildlife, scenic, and outdoor recreation resources. Although often measureless in commercial terms, these values must be preserved by a program that will guarantee America some semblance of her great heritage of beautiful rivers.” WellsAmericaBeautifulValuesTermWaterProgressEconomicDrinkResourcesBuiltProgramRiversEnvironmentalFishesProtectionGuaranteesHeritageNeglectedWildlifeRecreationAffluentSemblanceEconomic ProgressScenicBeautiful RiverOutdoor Recreation Author:Frank Church
“Concern for the fate of the great rivers of the earth must lead us to reflect soberly on the model of development which our society is pursuing. A purely economic and technological understanding of progress, to the extent that it fails to acknowledge its intrinsic limitations and to take into consideration the integral good of humanity, will inevitably provoke negative consequences for individuals, peoples and creation itself.” EarthHumanityIndividualUnderstandingWaterFateProgressFailingEconomicCreationDevelopmentModelsConsequenceConcernNegativeRiversEnvironmentalLimitationAcknowledgeConsiderationOur SocietyProvokingTechnologicalNegative Consequences Author:Pope Benedict XVI
“Although the United States has made tremendous progress cleaning up its water by removing billions of pounds of pollutants and doubling the number of waterways safe for fishing and swimming, a majority of Americans live within 10 miles of a polluted lake, river, stream or coastal area.” MadeStatesWaterUnitedNumbersUnited StatesProgressSafeAreasRiversMajorityEnvironmentalBillionsMilesStreamsLakesFishingPoundsSwimmingCleaningCleaning UpCoastal Author:Carol Browner
“The sharing of goods and resources, from which authentic development proceeds, is not guaranteed by merely technical progress and relationships of utility, but by the potential of love that overcomes evil with good.” EvilProgressDevelopmentResourcesOvercomingEnvironmentalGoodsSustainabilityUtility Book:Charity in Truth Source: Charity in Truth
“We recognize that our progress as a species does not have to be defined in terms of wealth or material and physical growth any more than our progress as individuals has to be defined in terms of physical growth. Physical growth of the body reaches a limit, but the character and the soul of the individual continues to grow, or at least has a chance to continue, often to our last breath. It is simple minded to define our well being in material terms, when that well-being has an aesthetic dimension, and intellectual dimension, a moral dimension.” WellsDoeSoulCharacterBodyLastsIndividualGrowsGrowthTermWealthChanceSimpleMoralProgressMaterialsLimitsIntellectualBreathsSpeciesEnvironmentalDefinedWell BeingDimensionsAestheticSustainability Author:Wes Jackson
“There seems in most countries to be either one extreme or the other. Truly a paradise could exist wherever material progress and spiritual values could be properly balanced.” CountrySeemsSpiritualValuesProgressMaterialsEnvironmentalExtremesParadiseBalancedStewardshipSpiritual Values Book:The Autobiography of Malcolm X Source: The Autobiography of Malcolm X
“We can change our thinking. Rather than viewing the chemical adulteration of our environment and our bodies as the inevitable practice of convenience and progress, we can decide that cancer is inconvenient and toxic pollution archaic and primitive. We can start seeing the creation of carcinogens as the result of outmoded technologies. We can demand green engineering and green chemistry. We can let our systems of industry and agriculture know that they are suffering from a design flaw.” ThinkingKnowsBodySufferingResultsPracticeTechnologyEnvironmentProgressSeeingDesignCreationIndustryDemandGreenEnvironmentalCancerInevitableFlawsChemistryChemicalsToxicEngineeringPollutionPrimitiveAgricultureConvenienceOur EnvironmentInconvenient Author:Sandra Steingraber
“Had today's technophobic zealots [environmental activists] been in charge in previous centuries, we would have to roll human progress back to the Middle Ages - and beyond, since even fire, the wheel and organic farming pose risks, and none would have passed the "absolute safety" test the zealots demand. Putting them in charge now would mean an end to progress, and perpetual deprivation for inhabitants of developing nations.” HumansMeanEndsAgeTodayNationsFireProgressRiskMiddleCenturyDemandTestsAbsolutesSafetyEnvironmentalDevelopingWheelsActivistPerpetualFarmingMiddle AgesDeprivationHuman ProgressZealotOrganic Farming Author:Paul Driessen
“A lot of environmental and biological science depends on technology to progress. Partly I'm talking about massive server farms that help people crunch genetic data - or atmospheric data. But I also mean the scientific collaborations that the Internet makes possible, where scientists in India and Africa can work with people in Europe and the Americas to come up with solutions to what are, after all, global problems.” PeopleMeanHelpingProblemTalkingTechnologyProgressDependsInternetSolutionsEuropeScientistIndiaEnvironmentalCome UpDataMassiveFarmsCollaborationServerCrunchBiological Science Author:Annalee Newitz
“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