If nature were a bank, they would have already rescued it.
Interpretation
This quote critiques society's lack of action towards environmental preservation, suggesting that if nature held monetary value, it would be prioritized.
Eduardo Galeano's quote emphasizes the hypocrisy in how society treats nature compared to financial assets. It suggests that if the environment were regarded as valuable as a bank, swift and decisive actions would be taken to protect it. This reflects a broader concern about prioritizing economic interests over ecological sustainability, highlighting the urgent need for a shift in values towards nature and a deeper commitment to conservation.
In practice
In a speech about climate change at a conference, one might say, 'As Eduardo Galeano pointed out, 'If nature were a bank, they would have already rescued it,' illustrating our failure to prioritize the planet's well-being.
Utopia is on the horizon. I move two steps closer; it moves two steps further away. I walk another ten steps and the horizon runs ten steps further away. As much as I may walk, I'll never reach it. So what's the point of utopia? The point is this: to keep walking.
It is highly improbable that the bureaucrat will put his life on the line. It is absolutely impossible that he'll put his job on the line.
We live in a world that treats the dead better than the living. We, the living are askers of questions and givers of answers, and we have other grave defects unpardonable by a system that believes death, like money, improves people.
History never really says goodbye. History says, 'See you later.'
The more freedom is extended to business, the more prisons have to be built for those who suffer from that business.
Utopia lies at the horizon. When I draw nearer by two steps, it retreats two steps. If I proceed ten steps forward, it swiftly slips ten steps ahead. No matter how far I go, I can never reach it. What, then, is the purpose of utopia? It is to cause us to advance.
I just have this absolute belief that humans are moving away from cruelty and destruction towards a time when we can truly live in harmony with nature. When we understand that there is a spiritual power around us from which we can draw strength. That is where I believe human destiny ultimately is taking us. I just hope we have time.
The mainstream audience has a certain picture of what climbing is all about: man conquering mountain. But you can't conquer a mountain, though it may conquer you.
There's a lot of money to be made by strip-mining and drilling the dirtiest oil on the planet. But why should the rest of us pay the price?
I go to books and to nature as a bee goes to the flower, for a nectar that I can make into my own honey.
You can only get really unpopular decisions through if the electorate is convinced of the value of the environment. That's what natural history programmes should be for.
It keeps eternal whisperings around desolate shores
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