We can almost recycle everything now. If we lived within our means, by being prudent, the 7 billion people in the world could have everything they needed. Global politics should be moving in that direction. But we think as people and countries, not as a species.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of sustainability and global cooperation to meet the needs of all people.
Jose Mujica highlights the potential for a sustainable future where resources are recycled and shared equitably among the global population. He stresses that while individual and national interests often dominate, we must adopt a collective mindset as a species to ensure the well-being of all, advocating for a more prudent use of resources to fulfill everyone's needs.
In practice
During a climate change conference, to emphasize the need for global sustainability efforts.
My goal is to achieve a little less injustice in Uruguay, to help the most vulnerable and to leave behind a political way of thinking, a way of looking at the future that will be passed on and used to move forward. There's nothing short-term, no victory around the corner. I will not achieve paradise or anything like that. What I want is to fight for the common good to progress. Life slips by. The way to prolong it is for others to continue your work.
If we lived within our means - by being prudent - the 7 billion people in the world could have everything they needed. Global politics should be moving in that direction. But we think as people and countries, not as a species.
I can live well with what I have.I'm called 'the poorest president', but I don't feel poor. Poor people are those who only work to try to keep an expensive lifestyle, and always want more and more.
I'm not the poorest president. The poorest is the one who needs a lot to live. My lifestyle is a consequence of my wounds. I'm the son of my history. There have been years when I would have been happy just to have a mattress.
I'm called 'the poorest president', but I don't feel poor.
When you have a lot of solitude, any living thing becomes a companion.
We have to understand what the older generation has dealt to us, what mess they have created that we have to clean up and live with.
For way too long the politicians and people in power have got away with not doing anything at all to fight the climate crisis and ecological crisis.
The uplift of the women, the awakening of the masses must come first, and then only can any real good come about for the country, for India.
I don't make changes to confuse anyone. I'm just searching. That's what causes me to change. I'm just searching for myself.
After spending three or four years interacting with the Bush administration, I realized they were not taking any actions to deal with climate change. So, I decided to give one talk, and then it snowballed into another talk and eventually to even protesting and getting arrested.
A revolution can be neither made nor stopped. The only thing that can be done is for one of several of its children to give it a direction by dint of victories.
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