If you just hold your cell phone for 30 seconds and think backwards through its production, you have the entire techno-industrial culture wrapped up there. You can't have that device without everything that goes with it.
Douglas TompkinsRead
Resource efficiency is the wrong metric. We should use nature as the measure, using nature's wisdom as a template for our economic systems.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of aligning economic systems with natural principles instead of merely focusing on resource efficiency.
Douglas Tompkins advocates for a fundamental shift in how we evaluate economic systems, suggesting that we should prioritize the wisdom found in nature rather than merely measuring efficiency in resource use. By using nature as a template, our systems can become more sustainable and harmonious with the environment, leading to a more responsible and thoughtful approach to economics.
Themes
NatureWisdomEconomicsSustainabilityEfficiency
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech on environmental policy, one might say, 'As Douglas Tompkins stated, resource efficiency is the wrong metric; we should look to nature for guidance.'
More from Douglas Tompkins
All quotes →I just realized at least what I was doing was making a lot of stuff that nobody needed and pushing a consumerist society. So I went to do something else.
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The byproduct of the main thrust to protect the biodiversity of a given place is that you get especially young people out to the parks, because it will be future generations that will have to value these landscapes and these ecosystems and make sure that nobody is changing the law.
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I am the daughter of Earth and Water, And the nursling of the Sky; I pass through the pores of the ocean and shores; I change, but I cannot die. For after the rain when with never a stain The pavilion of Heaven is bare, And the winds and sunbeams with their convex gleams Build up the blue dome of air, I silently laugh at my own cenotaph, And out of the caverns of rain, Like a child from the womb, like a ghost from the tomb, I arise and unbuild it again.
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The whole of nature cries out at our mistreatment of her. If the planet were a patient, we would have treated her long ago.
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The most amazing lesson in aerodynamics I ever had was the day I climbed a thermal in a glider at the same time as an eagle. I witnessed, close up, effortlessness and lightness combined with strength, precision and determination.
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We need to be realistic. There is very little we can do now to stop the ice from disappearing from the North Pole in the summer. And we probably cannot prevent the melting of the permafrost and the resulting release of methane. In addition, I fear that we may be too late to help the oceans maintain their ability to absorb carbon dioxide.
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