Isn't the only hope for the planet that the industrialized civilizations collapse? Isn't it our responsibility to bring this about?
Interpretation
The quote suggests that the collapse of industrialized civilizations may be necessary for the hope of a better planet, urging us to take responsibility for this change.
Maurice Strong's quote reflects a critical view of industrialization's impact on the environment, positing that the current civilization's structure may be detrimental to the planet's health. It challenges us to rethink our role in society and the ecological crisis, implying that we might need to take drastic actions to ensure a sustainable future for the Earth. The quote provokes thought about our collective responsibilities toward environmental issues and the potential necessity of radical change to attain a healthier planet.
In practice
During a conference on climate change, this quote can be used to provoke thought about our current trajectory and the need for drastic measures.
The concept of national sovereignty has been an immutable, indeed sacred, principle of international relations. It is a principle which will yield only slowly and reluctantly to the new imperatives of global environmental cooperation. It is simply not feasible for sovereignty to be exercised unilaterally by individual nation states, however powerful. The global community must be assured of environmental security.
After all, sustainability means running the global environment - Earth Inc. - like a corporation: with depreciation, amortization and maintenance accounts. In other words, keeping the asset whole, rather than undermining your natural capital.
A citizen of an advanced industrialized nation consumes in six months the energy and raw materials that have to last the citizen of a developing country his entire lifetime.
Changes are products of intensive efforts.
Everything changes but change itself. Everything flows and nothing remains the same... You cannot step twice into the same river, for other waters and yet others go flowing ever on.
Change is vital to any actor. If you keep playing lead after lead, you're really gonna dry up. Because all those vehicles wean you away from the truths of human behaviour.
People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar.
He did not know that the child who had asked for yesterday was now seeking to own tomorrow.
To exist is to adapt, and if one could not adapt, one died and made room for those who could.
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