Jane Goodall Quotes

I'm really disturbed by the degree to which I don't hear people saying, "Are we leaving the world better than we found it?" I think we are a generation that perhaps could not answer in the affirmative, and it is the evasion of the larger responsibility of being only one generation in what one hopes will be an infinite series of fruitful generations. There is a selfishness in refusing to understand that we are passing through; others will come, and they deserve certain courtesies and certain considerations from us.

But here's the ugly truth: nature doesn't care about democracy, or who's right, or what's fair. And because of the slow-change aspect of climate, we can't wait until the worst effects are upon us to make a decision -- by then, it would be far, far too late. The scenario we may be faced with is one where doing something for the wrong reasons, run by the wrong people, may still save more lives than holding out for a more appealing option.

What our Seventh Generation will have is a consequence of our actions today.

They used to ask: "How will this decision that we make today affect our people in the future?" Now we make decisions based on: "How does it affect me, now? How does it affect the next shareholders meeting, three months ahead? How does it affect my next political campaign?"

I plant a lot of trees. I am a great believer in planting things for future generations. I loathe the now culture where you just live for today.

Never forget posterity when devising a policy. Never think of posterity when making a speech.

We can do things the cheap way, the simple way, for the short-term and without regard for the future. Or, we can make the extra effort, do the hard work, absorb the criticism and make decisions that will cause a better future.

In Iroquois society, leaders are encouraged to remember seven generations in the past and consider seven generations in the future when making decisions that affect the people.

The people who control the condition in which we live have no reason to think beyond more than the next five or 10 years.

What most people don't realize is that dams and other structures are not permanent fixtures on the landscape. They are there because we made a political decision to build them. They didn't get there by accident.

We are living beyond our means. As a people we have developed a life-style that is draining the earth of its priceless and irreplaceable resources without regard for the future of our children and people all around the world.

Governments, however, must think not only of the present, but of the rights of future generations.

The need to incorporate longer term time scales into our societal choices is very real—and right in the lap of our generation.

My main argument is that environmental destruction comes when people externalise their costs and pass them on to future generations. That is obviously something that large enterprises do and they become large by doing it.

We must shift our thinking away from short-term gain toward long-term investment and sustainability, and always have the next generations in mind with every decision we make.

One way or another, the choice will be made by our generation, but it will affect life on earth for all generations to come

Sustainability takes forever. And that's the point.

One of the big lessons from behavioral economics is that we make decisions as a function of the environment that we're in.

Every action or inaction has an impact-good or bad-upon our surroundings, and anything we do today will have an impact on the lives of our grandchildren.

Buy less, choose well, make it last. Quality rather than quantity: That is true sustainability. If people only bought beautiful things rather than rubbish, we wouldn't have climate change!

Too old to plant trees for my own gratification, I shall do it for my posterity.

The greatest danger hanging over our children and grandchildren is initiation of changes that will be irreversible on any time scale that humans can imagine.

With the recognition comes additional responsibility, because then we're no longer a one-shot. We're now part of the environment.

Every time we burn a gallon of gas or an acre of rain forest, aren't we killing the future to preserve the present?

It is our responsibility to leave the people of the future a free hand.