Talking Sustainability

“All around were reminders that the land was more important than we were. The land could do without us.” – Ben Logan, The Land Remembers

“It is pretty clear that there is not much chance of finding any significant quantity of new cheap oil. Any new or unconventional oil is going to be expensive.” — Lord Ron Oxburgh, a former chairman of Shell, October 2008

“[World] reserves are confused and in fact inflated. Many of the so-called reserves are in fact resources. They’re not delineated, they’re not accessible, they’re not available for production.” – Sadad I. Al Husseini, former VP of Aramco, presentation to the Oil and Money conference, October 2007

“Achieving sustainable development is perhaps one of the most difficult and one of the most pressing goals we face. It requires on the part of all of us commitment, action, partnerships and, sometimes, sacrifices of our traditional life patterns and personal interests.” – Mostafa Tolba, Chairman of the Commission on Sustainable Development

“The future will be green, or not at all. This truth lies at the heart of humankind’s most pressing challenge: to learn to live in harmony with the Earth on a genuinely sustainable basis.” – Sir Jonathon Porritt

“Give a man a fish, and he can eat for a day. But teach a man how to fish, and he’ll be dead of mercury poisoning inside of three years.” – Charles Haas

“You go into a community and they will vote 80 percent to 20 percent in favor of a tougher Clean Air Act, but if you ask them to devote 20 minutes a year to having their car emissions inspected, they will vote 80 to 20 against it. We are a long way in this country from taking individual responsibility for the environmental problem.” – William D. Ruckelshaus, former EPA administrator, New York Times, November 1988

“Those who wish to pet and baby wild animals ‘love’ them. But those who respect their natures and wish to let them live normal lives, love them more.” – Edwin Way Teale, Circle of the Seasons, 1953

“The voyage of discovery lies not in finding new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” – Marcel Proust

“Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival of life on earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.” – Albert Einstein

“Modern man no longer regards Nature as in any sense divine and feels perfectly free to behave toward her as an overweening conqueror and tyrant.” – Aldous Huxley

“If we do not change our direction, we are likely to end up where we are headed.” – Chinese Proverb