We're in a giant car heading towards a brick wall and everyone's arguing over where they're going to sit.
David SuzukiRead
With the world's human population now at seven billion and growing, and the demand for technology and modern conveniences increasing, we can't control all our negative impacts. But we have to find better ways to live within the limits nature and its cycles impose.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Humans must adapt their lifestyles to live sustainably within the constraints of nature.
David Suzuki's quote emphasizes the importance of recognizing the growing impact of human population and technology on the environment. As the world's population continues to expand, it becomes increasingly clear that we must seek sustainable ways to coexist with nature, respecting its limits and cycles, rather than attempting to control all the negative effects of our actions.
Themes
SustainabilityNatureEnvironmentPopulationTechnology
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about climate change, I would quote this to emphasize the necessity of sustainable living.
More from David Suzuki
All quotes →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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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