Douglas Tompkins Quotes

In time, we will have to recognise that it is not 'nature' that we need to protect, but ourselves, and we can only do this by abandoning the old, grandiose, profit-seeking schemes so beloved of our masters and learning to till the soil, live to scale, and live within our means.

I think we need to take responsibility for the things we put on this planet, and also take responsibility for the things we take off the planet. We need to have limiters on how far we allow ourselves to go - ethical, moral limiters.

I think it's really important that we understand that we share this world and we're connected to it.

In abandoning the understanding that things - services, goods, wars, and houses - have costs, we risk becoming infantilised, incapable of making decisions about government or finance, and perhaps above all about the environment, the wellbeing of the planet upon which we depend and which our children will inherit from us.

National parks are the best expression of social equity that there is. It's like paying our rent for living on the planet.

his planet came with a set of instructions, but we seem to have misplaced them. Important rules like don’t poison the water, soil, or air, don’t let the earth get overcrowded, and don’t touch the thermostat have been broken.

To me, I think people who don't think it's a big deal to toss a plastic bottle in the garbage are not only being irresponsible, but I think they're being disrespectful of all the other humans on earth.

We should honor Mother Earth with gratitude; otherwise our spirituality may become hypocritical.

After all, sustainability means running the global environment - Earth Inc. - like a corporation: with depreciation, amortization and maintenance accounts. In other words, keeping the asset whole, rather than undermining your natural capital.

One who neglects or disregards the existence of earth, air, fire, water and vegetation disregards his own existence which is entwined with them.

The first rule of sustainability is to align with natural forces, or at least not try to defy them.

We owe it to each other - and to our children and grandchildren - to leave our planet in a better state than when we found it.

Through no divine design or cosmic plan, we have inherited the mantle of life's caretaker on the earth, the only home we have ever known.

Fear, separation, hate and anger come from the wrong view that you and the Earth are two separate entities, the Earth is only the environment. You are in the centre, and you want to do something for the Earth in order for you to survive.

The conventional, and painfully artificial, separation of the human realm from the natural other is bound to perish, albeit over a period of time, until we are obliged to learn how to cultivate our gardens under the most demanding conditions.

I don't do celebrity endorsements. My work with Conservation International is a good use of whatever celebrity I might have to draw attention to important problems. I have the same responsibility as everyone to reduce consumption and to teach children to respect the environment.

The care of the Earth is our most ancient and most worthy, and after all our most pleasing responsibility. To cherish what remains of it and to foster its renewal is our only hope.

We learn from our gardens to deal with the most urgent question of the time: How much is enough?

The nation behaves well if it treats the natural resources as assets which it must turn over to the next generation increased, and not impaired, in value.

We always have to remind ourselves of how fragile life on this planet is and what responsibilities we have.

Let's care for the land and water, heal our cherished planet, and promote wellness for all of her people. Water is life. Let's protect the natural resources that our lives depend upon.

We are going to learn how to relate to the Earth and our own natural environment here by looking seriously at space colony ecologies.

The mature Anthropocene begins when we acquire the ability to live sustainably and become a lasting presence on this world.

Our society is set up in a way that's so against the natural state of nature, and the way it's all initially intended to be. I kind of have to - not rebel, but peacefully rebel, in a sense - and do my part to protect it, regardless of the way that society is set up.

We survived on natural resources, so we should take care of the earth. When I leave home, I do things like switching off the heat and lights.