It's terrible to have to say this. World population must be stabilized and to do that we must eliminate 350,000 people per day. This is so horrible to contemplate that we shouldn't even say it. But the general situation in which we are involved is lamentable.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the difficult reality of overpopulation and the drastic measures needed to address it.
Jacques Yves Cousteau's quote highlights the grim necessity of stabilizing world population, suggesting that it has reached unsustainable levels. He presents the unsettling proposal of reducing the population significantly, underscoring the complexity and severity of global challenges related to overpopulation, while acknowledging the moral weight of such a discussion, reflecting on the broader existential concerns for humanity and the planet.
In practice
This quote could be used in a discussion about global sustainability challenges.
We must alert and organise the world's people to pressure world leaders to take specific steps to solve the two root causes of our environmental crises - exploding population growth and wasteful consumption of irreplaceable resources. Overconsumption and overpopulation underlie every environmental problem we face today.
No aquarium, no tank in a marine land, however spacious it may be, can begin to duplicate the conditions of the sea. And no dolphin who inhabits one of those aquariums or one of those marine lands can be considered normal.
The impossible missions are the only ones which succeed.
The sea, the great unifier, is man's only hope. Now, as never before, the old phrase has a literal meaning: we are all in the same boat.
The best way to observe a fish is to become a fish.
The sea is not a bargain basement.
What makes me myself rather than anyone else is the very fact that I am poised between two countries, two or three languages, and several cultural traditions. It is precisely this that defines my identity. Would I exist more authentically if I cut off a part of myself
Cultivators of the earth are the most virtuous and independent citizens.
The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena.
I do earnestly wish to see the distinction of sex confounded in society, unless where love animates the behaviour.
I look at anything in nature and how things work - the stars, the pyramids - and I can't imagine that there's not some kind of design to it all. There's got to be something big that we don't understand. I do believe in Jesus. I believe in being good to one another. Life is about spending our time here contributing and not taking away. That's my faith.
You wake up each day from the dream; but to be free, you must also wake up from the waking state.
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