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
At present we are stealing the future, selling it in the present, and calling it gross domestic product.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote critiques how current economic practices prioritize short-term gains over sustainable future development.
Paul Hawken's quote highlights a significant flaw in modern economic systems, suggesting that we are exploiting future resources and benefits for immediate financial profit, labeled as gross domestic product (GDP). This perspective encourages a re-evaluation of how we measure economic success, advocating for a balance that considers long-term sustainability and the well-being of future generations.
Themes
EconomySustainabilityFutureGdpResources
In practice
Example use cases
During a business seminar focused on sustainable practices, this quote can emphasize the need for a forward-thinking approach.
More from Paul Hawken
All quotes βInspiration 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.
Paul HawkenRead
We can no longer prosper by increasing human productivity. The more we try to do, the more poverty we will create.
Paul HawkenRead
How much harm does a company have to do before we question its right to exist?
Paul HawkenRead
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.
Paul HawkenRead
You are Brilliant and the Earth is Hiring.
Paul HawkenRead
Similar quotes
Those who advocate devaluation are calling for a reduction in the wage levels and the real wage standards of every member of the working class.
James CallaghanRead
Nobody spends somebody else's money as carefully as he spends his own.
Milton FriedmanRead
Economies are supposed to serve human ends.. not the other way round. We forget at our peril that markets make a good servant, a bad master and a worse religion.
Amory LovinsRead
Automation provides us with wondrous increases of production and information, but does it tell us what to do with the men the machines displace? Modern industry gives us the capacity for unparalleled wealth - but where is our capacity to make that wealth meaningful to the poor of every nation?
Robert KennedyRead
The powers of financial capitalism had a far-reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at in frequent meetings and conferences.
Carroll QuigleyRead
Free migration within Europe means that countries that have done a better job at reducing unemployment will predictably end up with more than their fair share of refugees. Workers in these countries bear the cost in depressed wages and higher unemployment, while employers benefit from cheaper labor.
Joseph StiglitzRead