Friday Quote
On Wednesday, the eve of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, one of our favorite writers Andrew Revkin of Dot Earth and The New York Times wrote of a query he had sent out to some of his contacts, people he called "thinkers and doers" asking them this: "Regarding the successes and failures of the last 40 years in the effort called environmentalism, and the changed array of environmental challenges facing societies today, what would your short mission statement be for those seeking a fruitful human journey over the next 40?"
He then posted responses in the comment section where some other great comments were posted as well. A selection of those are below. But what's YOUR mission statement DTE readers?
"Looking back over nearly 40 years in energy and environment I see the greatest failure of US policy to be our inability to price any concerns into environment and energy. Some of those concerns -- fuel economy, local air pollution from motor vehicles, appliance efficiency -- can be addressed partly by standards, but as long as the actual use of energy or the release of pollution is free or underpriced, our economy will continue to run on empty.
Want to build nuclear power plants? How do you pay for them? Want to "drill drill drill"? Who is going to invest in significant off shore drilling with oil prices falling? The standard US answer has been subsidies and "incentives". That has to change too. Have a sticker that let's you drive in the carpool lane with your Prius. That's a freebie you don't need.
In other words, it's time to go cold turkey on energy and environment, pay the real costs of what we take out of the planet (and what we leave behind). Its a big transition...."
- Lee Schipper - Senior Research Engineer, Precourt Energy Efficiency Center, Stanford University
"Our biggest need is a revitalized imagination. Our planetary failures result from many things -- ignorance, greed, corruption -- but I believe they stem first and foremost from our failure to imagine a better future for ourselves. Locked in mental commitment to the way things are, we routinely ignore the myriad ways we already know how to make them better. A bright, green future is still entirely possible, but we can't build what we don't imagine." - Alex Steffen, http://www.worldchanging.com
"The root of environmental problem can be found in patterns
of human collective behavior. As long as we are divided and confused,
our actions will remain contradictory, and therefore this particular
problem and many others will remain unsolved." - Igor Topilsky - Moscow, Russia
"As the consequences of the misuse of natural resources become more apparent, so too does the need for an architecture that finds beauty in ethical and sustainable integration with our natural and social environments. elemental reasserts architecture against the irresponsible trend that regards its practice as self-contained, solitary and ornamental." - Tom Abraham - Elemental Architecture LLC, New York City
