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
The only way America can reduce the long-term budget deficit, maintain vital services, protect Social Security and Medicare, invest more in education and infrastructure, and not raise taxes on the working middle class is by raising taxes on the super rich.
Robert ReichRead
Government-to-government foreign aid promotes statism, centralized planning, socialism, dependence, pauperization, inefficiency, and waste. It prolongs the poverty it is designed to cure. Voluntary private investment in private enterprise, on the other hand, promotes capitalism, production, independence, and self-reliance.
Henry HazlittRead
People.. were poor not because they were stupid or lazy. They worked all day long, doing complex physical tasks. They were poor because the financial institution in the country did not help them widen their economic base.
Muhammad YunusRead
I get heartfelt thanks from all kinds of people. Today I heard from a waitress in Georgia who has lost her job and is trying to figure out how her local bank can change the terms on her credit card, and I heard from a physicist at a major research university who wants to explain a better theory of financial stress tests.
Elizabeth WarrenRead
That economic decisions are made without certain knowledge of the consequences is pretty self-evident. But, although many economists were aware of this elementary fact, there was no systematic analysis of economic uncertainty until about 1950.
Kenneth ArrowRead
Regulatory reform must move beyond limiting the damage that the financial sector can do and ensure that the sector genuinely serves society.
Joseph StiglitzRead