We are now heading down a centuries-long path toward increasing the productivity of our natural capital - the resource systems upon which we depend to live - instead of our human capital.
Paul HawkenRead
We need to revise our economic thinking to give full value to our natural resources. This revised economics will stabilize both the theory and the practice of free-market capitalism. It will provide business and public policy with a powerful new tool for economic development, profitability, and the promotion of the public good.
Interpretation
What this quote means
We should rethink how we value our natural resources to improve economic systems.
In this quote, Paul Hawken emphasizes the importance of integrating the value of natural resources into our economic thinking. He suggests that by doing so, we can create a more stable and effective free-market system that not only enhances profitability but also supports public welfare, demonstrating a holistic approach to economics that benefits both businesses and society as a whole.
Themes
EconomicsNatural ResourcesSustainabilityFree-MarketPublic Good
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a presentation on sustainable business practices.
More from Paul Hawken
All quotes →Inspiration is not garnered from the litanies of what may befall us; it resides in humanity's willingness to restore, redress, reform, rebuild, recover, reimagine, and reconsider.
Paul HawkenRead
We can no longer prosper by increasing human productivity. The more we try to do, the more poverty we will create.
Paul HawkenRead
At present we are stealing the future, selling it in the present, and calling it gross domestic product.
Paul HawkenRead
How much harm does a company have to do before we question its right to exist?
Paul HawkenRead
We have the capacity to create a remarkably different economy: one that can restore ecosystems and protect the environment while bringing forth innovation, prosperity, meaningful work, and true security.
Paul HawkenRead
Similar quotes
The collapse of the global marketplace would be a traumatic event with unimaginable consequences. Yet I find it easier to imagine than the continuation of the present regime.
George SorosRead
Thus, the same blow that strikes interest down will send wages up.
Benjamin TuckerRead
It is better that a man should tyrannize over his bank balance than over his fellow-citizens and whilst the former is sometimes denounced as being but a means to the latter, sometimes at least it is an alternative.
John Maynard KeynesRead
If the job of capitalism is to create wealth for those who put up the capital, no fund group comes close to Vanguard's success in serving its owners. So we're probably as far away from communism as is realistically possible.
John C. BogleRead
Economics, as it is often taught today, portrays us as homo economicus-someone who doesn't vote in presidential elections, doesn't return lost wallets, and doesn't leave tips when dining out of town. Julie Nelson reminds us that most people aren't really like that. She helps point the way to a richer, more descriptive way of thinking about economic life.
Robert H. FrankRead
Our mission, as set forth by the Congress is a critical one: to preserve price stability, to foster maximum sustainable growth in output and employment, and to promote a stable and efficient financial system that serves all Americans well and fairly.
Ben BernankeRead