Zac Goldsmith Quotes

People feel good about giving money to Greenpeace.

When I was in high school, I started organizing fundraisers and other events for people like PETA and Greenpeace.

Environmentalism opposes reckless innovation and makes conservation the central order of business.

Let's recreate the equivalent of the Met Ball in Europe and, rather than for the museum, give the money to environmental causes.

We need to become good citizens in the global village, instead of competing. What are we competing for - to drive more cars, eat more steaks? That will destroy the world.

After the sale of Celtel, I really wanted to give the money back, and I had a number of choices - to go and buy masses of blankets and baby milk or to go into Darfur or Congo. That would have been very nice actually, but it's just like an aspirin: it doesn't deal with the problem.

It's really important to me to promote worthy causes. But not in a heavy, obligatory, responsibility way. I really admired that as a kid, learning about the 'Elton John AIDS Foundation.' And I was obsessed with The Indigo Girls. And they are the consummate activist group, always reaching out, especially to Native causes and things like that.

Of course I am political. You 'ave to be don't you? Every day it is about your future, your right to that future. 'Ow can people ignore this? We 'ave to leave a good world for our children, n'est-ce pas?

You cannot spend money in luxury without doing good to the poor. Nay, you do more good to them by spending it in luxury, than by giving it; for by spending it in luxury, you make them exert industry, whereas by giving it, you keep them idle.

Urban residents, most of them middle class, have a much better sense of their environmental rights, and they're willing to take to the streets.

A philanthropic venture requires all the energy, knowledge and money from its founder that a company requires from the leadership team.

Civilization has given us enormous successes: going to the moon, technology. But then this is the civilisation that took us to debt, environmental crisis, every single crisis. We need a civilization where we say goodbye to these things.

I had long planned to start a foundation. I wanted to do something with long-range benefit to humanity. Starting a business and making a lot of money doesn't make for a fulfilling life.

Good environmental policy is good economic policy.

The Body Shop Foundation is run by our staff and supports social activism and environmental activism. We don't tend to support big agencies.

When people make donations to non profits, they want to know that their money goes to good use.

I believe my business and non-profit investments are much more beneficial to societal well-being than sending more money to Washington.

Anyone who criticises me for talking about fair trade is a few pebbles short of a beach. Because everyone should care about it, just like everyone should care about the environment, because we all live here.

'The Lorax' book was intended to be propaganda.

Despite their good intentions, today's businesses are missing an opportunity to integrate social responsibility and day-to-day business objectives - to do good and make money simultaneously.

Politics colours everything, and anyone who wants change is necessarily political. As an environmental campaigner more or less since I left school in the early '90s, I have always been involved in lobbying, campaigning and pushing for changes.

With increasing fervor since the 1980s, sustainability has been the watchword of scientists, environmental activists, and indeed all those concerned about the complex, fragile systems on the sphere we inhabit. It has shaped debates about business, design, and our lifestyles.

No government is here forever. And there are other forces - the most potent force in our society, in fact, big business - doing good for the environment.

The activist is not the man who says the river is dirty. The activist is the man who cleans up the river.

My mom was an environmental activist in Australia in the late '60s and '70s, and I guess I've inherited that awareness from her.