Sustainability
QUOTES
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What made traditional economies so radically different
and so very fundamentally dangerous to Western
economies were the traditional principles of prosperity
of Creation versus scarcity of resources, of sharing
and distribution versus accumulation and greed,
of kinship usage rights versus individual exclusive
ownership rights, and of sustainability versus
growth. -- Rebecca
Adamson
Economic
development, more than any single issue, is the
battle line between two competing world views.
Tribal people's fundamental value was sustainability,
and they conducted their livelihoods in ways that
sustained resources and limited inequalities in
their society. What made traditional economies
so radically different and so very fundamentally
dangerous to Western economies were the traditional
principles of prosperity of Creation versus scarcity
of resources, of sharing and distribution versus
accumulation and greed, of kinship usage rights
versus individual exclusive ownership rights,
and of sustainability versus growth. -- Rebecca
Adamson
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"Education
is a human right with immense power to transform.
On its foundation rest the cornerstones of
freedom, democracy and sustainable human development."
~ Kofi Annan
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Democracy
is the ultimate, positive revolution because it gives
each and every individual the power to control their
lives. And we can work together to create a just, sustainable
world.
-- Bill Blackman
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There
can be no real growth without healthy populations.
No sustainable development without tackling disease
and malnutrition. No international security without
assisting crisis-ridden countries. And no hope
for the spread of freedom, democracy and human
dignity unless we treat health as a basic human
right. -- Gro
Brundtland
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That
the AIDS pandemic is threatening sustainable development
in Africa only reinforces the reality that health
is at the center of sustainable development. --
Gro
Brundtland
A
safe and nutritionally adequate diet is a basic
individual right and an essential condition for
sustainable development, especially in developing
countries. -- Gro
Harlem Brundtland
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The
United States of America will be a more sustainable
society when we eliminate wasteful defense spending
and instead invest in the foundations of a strong
economy and a prosperous and productive future,
by enhancing areas such as education, healthcare
and green infrastructure. The role of Business Leaders
for Sensible Priorities is to leverage the credibility
of business leaders on fiscal issues to draw the
attention of policy decision makers, the media and
the public to how the federal budget is currently
allocated and help to create a climate where changed
budget priorities can become a reality.
-- Mission Statement of Business Leaders for Sensible
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When
I think about the world I would like to leave
to my daughter and the grandchildren I hope to
have, it is a world that moves away from unequal,
unstable, unsustainable interdependence to integrated
communities - locally, nationally and globally
- that share the characteristics of all successful
communities.
~ Bill Clinton
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"No
one person has to do it all but if each one of
us follow our heart and our own inclinations we
will find the small things that we can do to create
a sustainable future and a healthy environment."
~ John Denver
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“If
we have a hope of really understanding our place
in nature and of carving out a place for ourselves
that is sustainable, it’s primarily because of
the new level of communication. It used to be,
‘What you don’t have in your mind, you have on
your shelf.’ But now we have the Web.”
~ Sylvia Earle
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We
must work to convert the military industrial complex
to sustainable technologies like windpower, solar,
and mass transit.”
~ Bruce Gagnon
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If
you look around Green Festival, you'd be convinced
that the movement for a just and sustainable world
is booming. But is it? The answer is a resounding
'yes'! And success is being fueled by creative,
passionate, people using powerful economic strategies
to promote fair trade, renewable energy, local
economies, and investment in healthy communities.
-- Alicia Gravitz
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“To
me, the path to a sustainable energy future seems
very obvious. We have to find a way to tap into
a very small fraction of the sun’s energy to convert
it to a form suitable for supplying what are in
fact the relatively small additional requirements
of modern life. … I think the technological challenge
can be met. It remains to be seen whether the
political and organisational challenges involved
in recognising and addressing the need to change
from the status quo can also be met on a reasonable
timescale.”
~ Martin Green
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Anything
you do sustainably feels so good that you're a
full-on addict as soon as you try it. If you eat
only vegetables and fruits that you grow yourself
from your garden, or organic food, it tastes so
much better and is so much better for you, you
can't really go back."
-- Daryl Hannah
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The
question is...whether we shall, by whatever means,
succeed in reconstituting the natural world as the
true terrain of politics, rehabilitating the personal
experience of human beings as the initial measure
of things, placing morality above politics and responsibility
above our desires, in making human community meaningful,
in returning content to human speech, in reconstituting,
as the focus of all social action, the autonomous,
integral, and dignified human "I,"...
-- Vaclav Havel
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Our
goal is to empower as many people as possible
to take simple, effective actions in their daily
lives that will make the world a more just and
sustainable place.
-- Ellis Jones
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"the
most patriotic thing you can do is to take care
of the environment and try to live sustainably."
~ Robert
F. Kennedy, Jr.
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To
achieve true sustainability, we must reduce our
'garbage index" - that which we permanently throw
away into the environment that will not be naturally
recycled for reuse - to near zero. Productive
activities must be organized as closed systems.
Minerals and other nonbiodegradable resources,
once taken from the ground, must become a part
of society's permanent capital stock and be recycled
in perpetuity. Organic materials may be disposed
into the natural ecosystems, but only in ways
that assure that they are absorbed back into the
natural production system.
-- David Korten
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As
citizen-activists the world over merge, they can
become an irresistible force to create peace and
protect the planet. From here will come a new
movement to abolish nuclear weapons and all weapons
of mass destruction. From here will come the demand
for sustainable communities, for new systems of
energy, transportation and commerce. From here
comes the future rushing in on us. How does one
acquire the capacity for active citizenship? The
opportunities exist every day...Active citizenship
begins with an envisioning of the desired outcome
and a conscious application of spiritual principles.
--
Dennis Kucinich
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It
is time for a sustainable energy policy which
puts consumers, the environment, human health,
and peace first. -- Dennis
Kucinich
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"Our
vision of interconnectedness resonates with new
networks of world citizens in nongovernmental organizations
linking from numberless centers of energy, expressing
the emergence of a new organic whole, seeking unity
within and across national lines... If governments
and their leaders, bound by hierarchy and patriarchy,
wedded to military might for legitimacy, fail to
grasp the implications of an emerging world consciousness
for cooperation, for peace and for sustainability,
they may become irrelevant."
~ Dennis Kucinich
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There
is at the moment in the world a battle going on
between those who are pursuing materialistic paths—globalizers
of economic growth and those hell-bent on this
‘big is better’ idea—on the one hand, and on the
other hand those who are dedicated to spiritual
renewal, more small-scale development, more human
scale, more sustainability, more crafts and arts.
Where human beings are not just sold to companies
and money and those kinds of things. Where human
beings have a sacred path.
-- Satish
Kumar
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Making
conscious choices about what we eat, based on
what the earth can sustain and what our bodies
need, can help remind us that our whole society
must begin to balance sustainable production with
human need.
-- Frances Moore
Lappé
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I
feel privileged to work at an organization that
is part of a growing movement to help people adopt
environmental and social justice practices into
their lives and helps them encourage these values
in the broader economy, where our consumer and
investor dollars can "vote" for sustainability.
At a time when corporations are exerting increasing
power over people's lives and the environment,
it is vital that we work directly with companies
to promote greater responsibility.
-- Todd Larsen
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"Witnessing
the extreme poverty in remote parts of Affrica
can make you feel sad and powerless until you
realize how little it takes to change these people's
lives fundamentally in sustainable ways."
-- John Legend
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Any
journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step.
The collision of short and long food chains strategies
are at the basis of our current crisis. Indigenous
peoples living on their ancestral lands can help
industrialized countries by living in a sustainable
manner (not the contrary). If we destroy their environments
and communities, we will lose the answers they have
to solving our problems, and to the protection of
our common futures. The most complex nuclear power
station is less important than a tropical tree,
and the most simple and sustainable answer more
useful than any National Library.
--
Raúl Montenegro
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aim is to convince the world's leaders that our
cities, towns and villages need to be healthy, safe,
just and sustainable. -- Wally N'Dow |
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We could dramatically accelerate innovations in
sustainability and social justice just by making
choices to use our money for positive solutions.
-- Carol Newell
I
think those of us who have extraordinary wealth
have an opportunity to leverage that wealth to
stimulate a just and sustainable economy. I know
it goes against the grain but I know it's possible.
It's just about deciding what kind of choices
we want to make.
-- Carol Newell
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"As a nation, this is the moment to start
seriously investing our time, energy and resources
into proven methods of reducing violence, both
within our nation as well as internationally.
The cost of violence to our culture and our children
is simply not sustainable."
-- Joaquin Phoenix
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As
long as war and violence are in our hearts and
our streets as well as in our nations, as long
as corporate greed and unsustainable consumption
are at the forefront of our economies, no child
will be born into a truly safe, peaceful or loving
world."
~ Ocean Robbins
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I
feel that our planet is in peril and that creating
a sustainable planet for my children and my children’s
children is the most important thing I can do
in this lifetime.
-- Kyra Sedgwick
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"The primary threat to nature and people today
comes from centralising and monopolising power
and control. Not until diversity is made the logic
of production will there be a chance for sustainability,
justice and peace. Cultivating and conserving
diversity is no luxury in our times: it is a survival
imperative."
~ Vandana Shiva
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Together
we are helping create a more peaceful, just and
sustainable world,
one act of compassion at a time... Every act of
compassion makes a difference! --
Robert Alan Silverstein
Our
goal is to create a world where citizens, communities,
corporations and nations work together in a responsible
way. Where decisions are not based on how much things
cost or how much profit can be made, but on the
value that it adds to the lives of our citizens
and employees, and its impact on the environment.
This sustainable life begins when we make our own
lives more sustainable. --
Robert Alan Silverstein
When
focused on uplifting humanity, creativity can
help to create a more peaceful, just and sustainable
world. How will you use your creativity to help
create a better world? -- Robert
Alan Silverstein
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There
is so much going on for a better world all around
us that the mainstream media never shares. Throughout
history, there have been many social movements for
change ... for democracy, for the abolition of slavery,
women's rights, for peace, for the environment ...
Many advancements have been made, but each of these
causes is just part of larger wish for a more peaceful,
just and sustainable world. These diverse movements
for thousands of different causes are beginning to
converge and a more holistic movement --what UNESCO
has described as a 'global movement for a culture
of peace' -- is beginning to emerge. The Culture
of Peace Movement is helping to unite the strengths
of existing organizations and individuals so that
creating a culture of peace really is now possible.
-- Robert Alan Silverstein
The
global economy is a runaway train that is causing
more and more suffering in the world. The current
'profit before people' system is causing the gap between
the very rich and the very poor to grow larger each
year. In
order to transform the global economy into a true
global community, we need to create a Better World
Economy - an economic system that gives value to other
commodities besides money. Then we can create more
sustainable local, national and global communities.
-- Robert Alan Silverstein
We
are part of a movement that has worked throughout
history towards humanity's greatest goal - creating
a more peaceful, just and sustainable world. -- Robert
Alan Silverstein
We
can create a more sustainable, cleaner and safer world
by making wiser energy choices.
-- Robert Alan Silverstein
When
we convince the people and the nations of our planet
to make 'striving for a better world' our priority
and shared goal, we will transform our culture of
fear and violence into a 'culture of peace and sustainability.'
-- Robert
Alan Silverstein
Many
documents have been created as attempts to lay out
in a concrete way the conditions that are necessary
to create a better world. The United Nations' Declaration
of Human Rights, for instance is still a shining example
of how we should be treating each other. The Earth
Charter was produced after thousands of individuals
collaborated for more than ten years. It sets forth
a wonderful blueprint for a more peaceful, just and
sustainable planet. The Better World Handbook provides
an extensive look at the problems facing our world,
and hands-on ways that we can solve these problems
and create a better world.
-- Robert Alan Silverstein
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The Earth Charter is important as an expression
of the commitment of people throughout the Earth
to evoke their own deepest moral, spiritual and
ethical principles in the task of ensuring a sustainable
future for those who inhabit the Earth now and
those who will follow us on the Earth.-- Maurice
Strong
After
all, sustainability means running the global environment
- Earth Inc. - like a corporation: with depreciation,
amortization and maintenance accounts. In other
words, keeping the asset whole, rather than undermining
your natural capital. -- Maurice
Strong
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Each
of us has the ability to act powerfully for change;
together we can restore that ancient and sustaining
harmony.
-- David Suzuki
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Energy
is essential for development, and sustainable
energy is essential for sustainable development.
~ Timothy Wirth
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