We are now heading down a centuries-long path toward increasing the productivity of our natural capital - the resource systems upon which we depend to live - instead of our human capital.
Paul HawkenRead
There is no polite way to say that business is destroying the world.
Interpretation
Business practices can have detrimental effects on the planet, and it's difficult to address this without sounding harsh.
This quote by Paul Hawken highlights the conflict between business interests and environmental sustainability. It underscores the urgent need to acknowledge that many business practices contribute to environmental degradation and social issues, and it suggests that confronting this reality may be uncomfortable or unwelcome in polite company.
In practice
This quote could be used in a speech about corporate responsibility in an environmental conference.
We are now heading down a centuries-long path toward increasing the productivity of our natural capital - the resource systems upon which we depend to live - instead of our human capital.
Inspiration is not garnered from the litanies of what may befall us; it resides in humanity's willingness to restore, redress, reform, rebuild, recover, reimagine, and reconsider.
We can no longer prosper by increasing human productivity. The more we try to do, the more poverty we will create.
At present we are stealing the future, selling it in the present, and calling it gross domestic product.
How much harm does a company have to do before we question its right to exist?
We have the capacity to create a remarkably different economy: one that can restore ecosystems and protect the environment while bringing forth innovation, prosperity, meaningful work, and true security.
A person may be greedy, envious, cowardly, cold, ungenerous, unkind, vain, or conceited, but behave perfectly by a monumental act of the will.
Can one alter oneΒ΄s chief feature?" asked someone else. First it is necessary to know it. If you know it, much will depend on the quality of your knowing. If you know it well, then it is possible to change it.
In violence there is often the quality of yearning - the yearning for completion. For closure. For that which is absent and would if present bring to fulfillment. For the body without which the wing is a useless frozen ornament. ("A Short Guide To The City")
The idea that the more you hide something, the more it becomes something that's supposed to feel shameful is very true.
There is nothing more provocative than minding your own business.
People with the strongest and healthiest sense of calling are not obsessed with their calling. They are preoccupied with the Caller.
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