We're in a giant car heading towards a brick wall and everyone's arguing over where they're going to sit.
David SuzukiRead
I feel humiliated that I live in a country that demands more already. Why do we cling to the notion that not only must we maintain the current level of consumption, but that it must continue to grow by an exponential factor of 2 to 7 percent every year?
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the concern over constant economic growth and its implications on sustainability and morality.
David Suzuki's quote emphasizes the absurdity of a society that prioritizes relentless economic growth and consumerism at the expense of ethical considerations and environmental sustainability. He expresses humiliation that such demands exist and prompts reflection on the necessity and consequences of maintaining and increasing consumption rates year after year.
Themes
ConsumptionGrowthSustainabilityEnvironmentEconomics
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech about sustainable living to emphasize the need for change in consumption habits.
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The medical literature tells us that the most effective ways to reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, Alzheimer's, and many more problems are through healthy diet and exercise. Our bodies have evolved to move, yet we now use the energy in oil instead of muscles to do our work.
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Do you know how much land is under ice, rock and snow? Do you know why 90 percent of us live within 100 kilometres of the U.S. border? We have this idea we're a vast country. But the reality is that a lot of it, a huge amount, is uninhabitable.
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We no longer see the world as a single entity. We've moved to cities and we think the economy is what gives us our life, that if the economy is strong we can afford garbage collection and sewage disposal and fresh food and water and electricity. We go through life thinking that money is the key to having whatever we want, without regard to what it does to the rest of the world.
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