Barry Commoner Quotes

I think the environmental problem will be the number one item on the agenda of the 21st century... This is a problem that cannot be postponed.

It's time we stopped ignoring the environment. Let's not let another election go by without making this a high priority.

Global warming and climate change is a big problem. It requires a big solution.

My main issue is sustainability of the Earth, and protection of those animals and people who dwell here.

We must act swiftly in order to halt the rate of decay our planet faces.

I tell my environmental friends that they have won. Every issue we look at from an energy perspective is now also looked at from an environmental perspective.

Raising awareness on the most pressing environmental issues of our time is more important than ever.

Our world faces a true planetary emergency. I know the phrase sounds shrill, and I know it's a challenge to the moral imagination.

The atmosphere, the earth, the water and the water cycle - those things are good gifts. The ecosystems, the ecosphere, those are good gifts. We have to regard them as gifts because we couldn't make them. We have to regard them as good gifts because we couldn't live without them.

Environmental disaster is the gravest threat to China's continued development. That's according to me, but it is not some wacko view.

My efforts in Congress are guided by the belief that environmental preservation and restoration are a critical part of the legacy we leave to future generations.

For the sake of our health, our children and grandchildren and even our economic well-being, we must make protecting the planet our top priority.

I think we have grave problems. I am very much concerned about environmental questions, even though in Finnish society, we are not facing the most urgent problems.

Climate change does not respect border; it does not respect who you are - rich and poor, small and big. Therefore, this is what we call 'global challenges,' which require global solidarity.

The planet doesn't require saving, and actually hasn't asked Greenpeace to save it.

I think the government has to reposition environment on top of their national and international priorities.

The language 'It's too late' is very unsuitable for most environmental issues. It's too late for the dodo and for people who've starved to death already, but it's not too late to prevent an even bigger crisis. The sooner we act on the environment, the better.

There are a tremendous amount of environmental issues that are on the table.

In many developing countries environmental problems are relegated to the periphery because they do not appear to be as urgent as other issues … We cannot survive without clean drinking water, food and pure air. Environmental concerns are not a luxury in Africa.

The current challenge facing the environmental authorities is how to properly deal with the environmental problems caused by economic development.

I've long believed the environmental issue is an economic issue and a political issue. The three are entwined. You can't build prosperity on any basis other than a long-term basis, and you can't do that if you don't have a healthy environment.

Climate change knows no borders. It will not stop before the Pacific islands and the whole of the international community here has to shoulder a responsibility to bring about a sustainable development.

The trouble with ecological invocations of Nature is that they're like calling for a medieval tool, perhaps a portcullis or an arrow slit, to fix a modern problem.

It is undeniable that the looming environmental crisis is partly the consequence of population growth.

Since the early 1990s, I had been very worried about the state of the environment, and by the end of that decade, I realized I needed to do something about it.