Better World Quotes - Sustainability

Be a Hero for a Better World ... Every Act of Kindness Makes a Difference!

SUSTAINABILITY

* 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

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

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

"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

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

* 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

* 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

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 Priorities

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

* "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

“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

We must work to convert the military industrial complex to sustainable technologies like windpower, solar, and mass transit.”
~ Bruce Gagnon

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

* “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

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

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

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

* "the most patriotic thing you can do is to take care of the environment and try to live sustainably."
~ Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

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

* 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

* It is time for a sustainable energy policy which puts consumers, the environment, human health, and peace first. -- Dennis Kucinich

"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

* 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

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 Lappe

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

* "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

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

Our 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

* 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

* "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

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

* 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

* "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

* 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