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Sometimes thoughtful, sometimes funny quotes on the environment, sustainability and style. I think the environment should be put in the category of our national security. Defense of our resources is just as important as defense abroad. Otherwise what is there to defend? Our children may save us if they are taught to care properly for the planet; but if not, it may be back to the Ice Age or the caves from where we first emerged. Then we'll have to view the universe above from a cold, dark place. No more jet skis, nuclear weapons, plastic crap, broken pay phones, drugs, cars, waffle irons, or television. Come to think of it, that might not be a bad idea. I suddenly realized that what I was feeling was the love of the Earth, the love of Creation. Every day we, as a species, do so much to destroy Creation's ability to give us life. But that Creation continues to do everything in its power to give us life anyway. And that's true love. Sustainability can only be achieved through better design. The veneration of progress for its own sake has resulted in a world where things take precedence over people. Sustainable development is like teenage sex - everybody claims they are doing it but most people aren't, and those that are, are doing it very badly. There must be a better way to make the things we want, a way that doesn't spoil the sky, or the rain or the land. Sustainable development is the peace policy of the future. Anything else you're interested in is not going to happen if you can't breathe the air and drink the water. Don't sit this one out. Do something. You are by accident of fate alive at an absolutely critical moment in the history of our planet. The best friend of earth and of man is the tree. When we use the tree respectfully and economically, we have one of the greatest resources on the earth. Land really is the best art. The future of BP is in the sun and hydrogen. Environmentally friendly cars will soon cease to be an option...they will become a necessity. The automobile business is about to experience the most profound and revolutionary changes it has seen since the Model T first hit the streets. I want the Ford Motor Company to be a leader in the second industrial revolution -- the Clean Revolution. I feel more confident than ever that the power to save the planet rests with the individual consumer. Each of us has the ability to act powerfully for change; together we can restore that ancient and sustaining harmony. Fifteen years of Greenpeace campaigns later, I had some new insights. It was time to switch from confrontation to consensus, time to stop fighting and start talking with the people in charge. I became a convert to the idea of sustainable development and the need to consider social and economic issues along with my environmental values. I adopted the round table, consensus approach as the logical next step in the evolution of the movement for sustainability. When future generations judge those who came before them on environmental issues, they may conclude 'they didn’t know': let us not go down in history as the generations who knew, but didn’t care. 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. One person can make all the difference in the world. For the first time in recorded human history, we have the fate of the whole planet in our hands. Talking about sustainable development is not enough. We have to know what it is, to see how our policies are working on the ground. We must hold ourselves to account - as a government, but also as a country. Because the only way in which we will succeed is if we all play our part. |
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