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Quotes by Famous Environmentalists

Index: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z


A

Abraham Lincoln - President (1809-1865)

“You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today”

“Whatever you are, be a good one”

“Be sure to put your feet in the right place, then stand firm”

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Aeschylus – (525 BC – 456 BC)

“From a small seed, a mighty trunk may grow”

“By polluting clear water with slime, you will never find good drinking water”

“Happiness is a choice that requires effort at times”

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Albert Einstein – German-born Theoretical Physicist

“The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it.”

“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.”

“Joy in looking and comprehending is nature's most beautiful gift.”

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Aldo Leopold– Naturalist (Jan 11, 1877 – Apr 21, 1948)

“Harmony with land is like harmony with a friend; you cannot cherish his right hand and chop off his left. “

“Conservation is a state of harmony between men and land.”

“A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.”

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Al Gore – Environmentalist (Born March 31, 1948)

“I think the cost of energy will come down when we make this transition to renewable energy. ”

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Anna Freud – Austrian-British Psychoanalyst(1895 –1982)

“We are aware only of the empty space in the forest, which only yesterday was filled with trees.”

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Ansel Adams – Environmentalist (1902 –1984)

“It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment.”

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Barry Commoner – American Biologist, Ecologist (1917-2012)

“Environmental pollution is an incurable disease. It can only be prevented.”

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Bill Gates – American business magnate, investor, author and philanthropist (1955 - )

“Climate change is a terrible problem, and it absolutely needs to be solved. It deserves to be a huge priority.”

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Bill McKibben – Environmentalist (Dec. 8, 1960 - )

“The popular notion is that Americans are addicted to fossil fuels, but I find that's not true; most people would be happy to power their lives with anything else.”

“In reality, climate change is actually the biggest thing that's going on every single day.”

“When we think about global warming at all, the arguments tend to be ideological, theological and economic.”

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Billy Parish – Environmentalist (1981 - )

“Any waste stream in our society can be turned into a revenue stream. It's turning the lemons in our society into lemonade.”

“One of the fastest ways to build the clean energy economy is to allow more people to benefit from it.”

“You make the road by walking.”

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Buckminster Fuller – American Architect, Systems Theorist, Author, Designer and Inventor( July 12, 1895 – July 1, 1983 )

“Pollution is nothing but the resources we are not harvesting. We allow them to disperse because we've been ignorant of their value. ”

“When I am working on a problem, I never think about beauty but when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong. ”

“We are called to be architects of the future, not its victims.”

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Charles Sanders Peirce – Philosopher (1839 – 1914)

“We do not really think, we are barely conscious, until something goes wrong.”

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Dean Kamen – American entrepreneur and Inventor (born April 5, 1951 - )

“Technology is how we create wealth, how we cure diseases, how we'll build an environment that's sustainable and also gives people the capacity to pull more out of this world and still leave it better than when they found it.”

“I think an education is not only important, it is the most important thing you can do with your life.”

“The city needs a car like a fish needs a bicycle.”

“As we move towards 8 or 10 billion people on the planet, there's a little less gold per capita. Each one of us will continue to be fighting over an ever smaller percentage of total resources. This is not a happy thought.”

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Edward Osborne Wilson – American Conservationist and Naturalist (born June 10, 1929 - )

“Destroying rainforest for economic gain is like burning a Renaissance painting to cook a meal.”

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Evo Morales – 80th President of Bolivia (1959-)

“Sooner or later, we will have to recognise that the Earth has rights, too, to live without pollution. What mankind must know is that human beings cannot live without Mother Earth, but the planet can live without humans.”

“We can not have equilibrium in this world with the current inequality and destruction of Mother Earth. Capitalism is what is causing this problem and it needs to end.”

“It's easy for people in an air-conditioned room to continue with the policies of destruction of Mother Earth. We need instead to put ourselves in the shoes of families in Bolivia and worldwide that lack water and food and suffer misery and hunger.”

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George Santayana – – Philosopher (1863 –1952)

“I like to walk about amidst the beautiful things that adorn the world.”

“The Difficult is that which can be done immediately; the Impossible that which takes a little longer.”

“The wisest mind has something yet to learn.”

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Jacques Cousteau – French Conservationist (1910 –1997)

“Water and air, the two essential fluids on which all life depends, have become global garbage cans.”

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John Dewey – (1859 –1952)

“Human nature exists and operates in an environment. And it is not 'in' that environment as coins are in a box, but as a plant is in the sunlight and soil.”

“You cannot teach today the same way you did yesterday to prepare students for tomorrow.”

“Art is not the possession of the few who are recognized writers, painters, musicians; it is the authentic expression of any and all individuality.”

“All learning begins when our comfortable ideas turn out to be inadequate.”

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John James Audubon – American Naturalist (1785 –1851)

“A true conservationist is a man who knows that the world is not given by his fathers, but borrowed from his children.”

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Joseph Wood Krutch – American Writer and Naturalist (1893 –1970)

“If we do not permit the earth to produce beauty and joy, it will in the end not produce food, either.”

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John Muir – Scottish-American Naturalist (1938 –1914)

“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.”

“Take a course in good water and air; and in the eternal youth of Nature you may renew your own. Go quietly, alone; no harm will befall you.”

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Margaret Mead – American Cultural Anthropologist (1901 –1978)

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.”

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Marlee Matlin – American Actress (born August 24, 1965 – )

“The Earth does not belong to us: we belong to the Earth.”

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Mike Huckabee – American Actress (born August 24, 1965 – )

“The most important thing about global warming is this. Whether humans are responsible for the bulk of climate change is going to be left to the scientists, but it's all of our responsibility to leave this planet in better shape for the future generations than we found it.”

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Randal Spence - Founder of Earth Mom (1953- )

“When it is no longer either fashionable or profitable to pollute, pollution can begin to disappear on virtually all levels”

“All pollution can be traced back over the centuries to the front door of global commerce”

“We enable pollution when we naively or knowingly continue to purchase the products of openly polluting entities”

“Peer pressure can push and prod but financial pressure to make changes can take a big bite”

“We are all guilty of committing pollution, either by intention, error or omission”

“For lasting environmental change to occur, there must always be sufficient financial motivation applied”

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Richard Rogers - British Architect (born July 23, 1933 - )

“The only way forward, if we are going to improve the quality of the environment, is to get everybody involved.”

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Sidney Sheldon - American Writer and Producer (February 11, 1917 - January 30, 2007)

“Try to leave the Earth a better place than when you arrived.”

“My heroes are those who risk their lives every day to protect our world and make it a better place - police, firefighters and members of our armed forces.”

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Stewart Udall – American Politician (1920 –2010)

“Plans to protect air and water, wilderness and wildlife are in fact plans to protect man.”

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Susan George – American and French Political Activist (born June 29, 1934 - )

“If you cut down a forest, it doesn't matter how many sawmills you have if there are no more trees.”

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“Do something every day for no other reason than you would rather not do it, so that when the hour of dire need draws nigh, it may find you not unnerved and untrained to stand the test.”

“If you care enough for a result, you will most certainly attain it.”

“Human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.”

“All learning begins when our comfortable ideas turn out to be inadequate.”

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Wendell Berry - American Environmental Activist (born August 5, 1934 - )

“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children”

“There are no sacred and unsacred places; there are only sacred and desecrated places. My belief is that the world and our life in it are conditional gifts.”

“We have the world to live in on the condition that we will take good care of it. And to take good care of it, we have to know it. And to know it and to be willing to take care of it, we have to love it.”

“The atmosphere, the earth, the water and the water cycle - those things are good gifts. The ecosystems, the ecosphere, those are good gifts. We have to regard them as gifts because we couldn't make them. We have to regard them as good gifts because we couldn't live without them.”

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Yann Arthus-Bertrand - French Environmentalist (born 13 March 1946 - )

“No one is an environmentalist by birth. It is only your path, your life, your travels that awaken you.”

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