We're in a giant car heading towards a brick wall and everyone's arguing over where they're going to sit.
David SuzukiRead
If we want to move towards a low-polluting, sustainable society, we need to get consumers to think about their purchases.
Interpretation
We must encourage consumers to consider the environmental impact of their buying choices.
In this quote, David Suzuki emphasizes the importance of consumer awareness in the pursuit of a sustainable and low-polluting society. By making conscious purchasing decisions, individuals can collectively contribute to environmental preservation and foster a marketplace that prioritizes sustainability, driving industries to adopt more eco-friendly practices.
In practice
During a speech at an environmental conference, I might say this quote to inspire action.
We're in a giant car heading towards a brick wall and everyone's arguing over where they're going to sit.
As parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts we need to start getting out into nature with the young people in our lives. Families play a key role in getting kids outside.
One of the joys of being a grandparent is getting to see the world again through the eyes of a child.
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.
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.
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.
Permissible growth in the future has to be based on sustainable and equitable models.
If we grew our own food, we wouldn't waste a third of it as we do today. If we made our own tables and chairs, we wouldn't throw them out the moment we changed the interior decor. If we had to clean our own drinking water, we probably wouldn't contaminate it.
Global sustainability is now the only avenue to future inclusive progress that can deliver the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris climate agreement.
Sustainability makes good business sense, and we're all on the same team at the end of the day. That's the truth about the human condition.
If we achieve our sustainability targets and no one else follows, we will have failed.
Looking at the world through a sustainability lens not only helps us 'future proof' our supply chain, it also fuels innovation and drives brand growth.
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