Noam Chomsky Quotes

NGOs take a lot of heat off the government and the corporations to try things that are not clearly profitable yet and might fail which would cause too much embarrassment for government.

We can't leave everything to the free market. In fact, climate change is, I would argue, the greatest single free-market failure. This is what happens when you don't regulate corporations and you allow them to treat the atmosphere as an open sewer.

There would be a cost for dumping carbon into our atmosphere and a cap on total emissions. The government must make a clear and firm decision - terminating the idea in our society it is free to pump infinite amounts of carbon into the air. Once that happens, private capital will flow even more aggressively into developing and deploying the alternative, less-polluting technologies.

I am going to confront the old-fashioned negative thinking which says that all government needs to do to generate growth is cut worker and environmental protections, cut taxes on the rich and stroke 'fat cats' until they purr with pleasure. I'm completely repudiating the idea that government has to get out of the way.

The companies that are the most influential and most successful are the ones that care about impact and the influence they have on the world.

Corporate responsibility extends not only to the customers, the resources and the workers of the present, but also to those of the future.

I don't believe in a price on carbon, because the government is going to control it and they're going to fail.

It's absolutely not acceptable for people to argue that, if we are going to do anything about climate change at all, well, the responsibility lies solely with the individual.

When I was in Minnesota serving in the state Senate and in Washington, D.C., I did everything I could to defeat cap and trade. I didn't work to implement cap and trade.

No business is above government, and government must be empowered to deal adequately with any business that tries to rise above government.

Leaders must be reminded that Businesses exist for the service of men.

The pendulum of capitalism has swung way too far to only trying to maximize the profit of shareholders rather than many of the traditional other virtues and accomplishments of a company.

Rather than rewarding today’s voters with benefits financed by future generations, as Congress typically does, solving the climate problem will require costly actions now to protect those who will follow us.

Can you imagine what a different world we will live in when businesses do what's right for the communities and the environment in everything they do?

An important priority for me is a business must get their own house in order. Be or become an agent of positive change in your own enterprise and adopt responsible practices to eliminate the risks that often lie at the root of inequality and poverty.

When I am president of the United States of America, there will never be any cap-and-trade in the United States.

I hope the EPA will listen to the many votes over the years in Congress opposing cap-and-trade and rescind that proposed rule.

The corporate community understands the need for rules. Indeed, it argues for regulation to protect intellectual property, physical property rights, and contract law. So why does it oppose global regulation to protect people and the environment?

Opponents have claimed that regulating carbon will hurt the economy and businesses. The economies of California and British Columbia prove otherwise.

Continuing down a path where profit is king is unsustainable for our society, our health and our planet.

Canadians didn't vote for a carbon tax. Justin Trudeau campaigned, promised that he wouldn't create a carbon tax.

CEOs must go beyond working with policy-makers on new regulatory frameworks. They must also commit to the principle that success cannot be measured by profitability and growth alone.

We see that the environment is something to exploit, because we see the environment in terms of minerals for example, or forests, or even raw materials that we produce on our land, or even land itself. We see it in terms of what we can exploit rather than the medium in which all of these activities have to take place.

I believe that in order to tackle the big issues of the world today, like environmental issues, we need everybody's involvement. We need the resources of the corporate world. We need the cooperation of governments. We need the wisdom of indigenous people.

It's clear that it is in the best interest of business to be part of the conservation, along with governments and civil society.