There is a great need for the introduction of new values in our society, where bigger is not necessarily better, where slower can be faster, and where less can be more.
Gaylord NelsonRead
Reaching a general understanding that sustainability is the ultimate issue will finally bring us face-to-face with the political challenge of forging a sustainable society during the next few decades. It is a challenge we can meet if we have the leadership and the political will to do so.
Interpretation
Sustainability is crucial for the future, and achieving it requires strong leadership and commitment.
This quote emphasizes the importance of sustainability as a primary concern for society in the coming decades. It highlights that to address this critical issue, we need effective leadership and the determination to implement the necessary changes for building a sustainable society.
In practice
In a speech about environmental policy, a leader might quote this to emphasize the need for immediate action on sustainability.
There is a great need for the introduction of new values in our society, where bigger is not necessarily better, where slower can be faster, and where less can be more.
The most important environmental issue is one that is rarely mentioned, and that is the lack of a conservation ethic in our culture.
The ultimate test of a man's conscience may be his willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard.
Our goal is not just an environment of clean air and water and scenic beauty. The objective is an environment of decency, quality and mutual respect for all other human beings and all other living creatures.
The most rigid structures, the most impervious to change, will collapse first.
Unless we can psychologically accommodate change, we ourselves begin to die, inwardly. What I am saying is that objects, customs, habits, and ways of life must perish so that the authentic human being can live. And it is the authentic human being who matters most, the viable, elastic organism which can bounce back, absorb, and deal with the new.
We should learn to accept that change is truly the only thing that's going on always, and learn to ride with it and enjoy it.
Men do change, and change comes like a little wind that ruffles the curtains at dawn, and it comes like the stealthy perfume of wildflowers hidden in the grass.
We demand in the Reconstruction suffrage for all the citizens of the Republic. I would not talk of Negroes or women, but of citizens.
Only the fairy tale equates changelessness with happiness...Permanence means paralysis and death. Only, in movement, with all its pain, is life.
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