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
The responses that environmentalists evoke - fear, anxiety, numbness, despair - are not helpful, even if they are understandable. It should be fascinating, even enthralling, to be in the milieu of environmental change.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The emotional responses to environmental issues can hinder progress; embracing the fascination of change is more productive.
In this quote, Paul Hawken emphasizes that while fear and despair are common reactions to environmental challenges, they are ultimately unproductive. Instead, he argues for viewing environmental change as a captivating opportunity for growth and engagement, encouraging a mindset that sees the potential for positive transformation rather than succumbing to negativity.
Themes
EnvironmentChangeFascinationEmotionsPositivity
In practice
Example use cases
During a climate change conference, this quote can inspire participants to focus on opportunities for innovation.
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
Touch the earth, love the earth, honour the earth, her plains, her valleys, her hills, and her seas; rest your spirit in her solitary places.
Henry BestonRead
But once the ants and termites jumped the high barrier that prevents the vast variety of evolving animal groups from becoming fully social, they dominated the world.
E. O. WilsonRead
I have always kept ducks, even as a child, and the colours of their plumage, in particular the dark green and snow white, seemed to me the only possible answer to the questions that are on my mind.
W. G. SebaldRead
I think, on a personal level, everybody, when you go through the checkout line after you get your groceries and they say, 'Paper or plastic?' We should be saying, 'Neither one.' We should have our own cloth bags.
Woody HarrelsonRead
Every time I have some moment on a seashore, or in the mountains, or sometimes in a quiet forest, I think this is why the environment has to be preserved.
Bill BradleyRead
It keeps eternal whisperings around desolate shores
John KeatsRead