Christian de Duve Quotes

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.

The earth belongs in usufruct to the living.

The only thing that can save us as a species is seeing how we're not thinking about future generations in the way we live.

Land is not something you inherit from your parents. It is something you borrow from your children.

Humanity stands ... before a great problem of finding new raw materials and new sources of energy that shall never become exhausted. In the meantime we must not waste what we have, but must leave as much as possible for coming generations.

I haven't inherited the earth from my parents, I am borrowing it from my children.

Each generation takes the earth as trustees. We ought to bequeath to posterity as many forests and orchards as we have exhausted and consumed.

If, in our haste to 'progress,' the economics of ecology are disregarded by citizens and policy makers alike, the result will be an ugly America. We cannot afford an America where expedience tramples upon esthetics and development decisions are made with an eye only on the present.

The world is using up its natural resources at an alarming rate, and this has caused a permanent shift in their value. We all need to adjust our behavior to this new environment. It would help if we did it quickly.

We owe at least this much to future generations, from whom we have borrowed a fragile planet called Earth.

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

If our economies are to flourish, if global poverty is to be banished, and if the wellbeing of the world's people enhanced - not just in this generation but in succeeding generations - we must make sure we take care of the natural environment and resources on which our economic activity depends.

Just as our forefathers saved and invested to build what we, the current generation, are enjoying today, so, too, we must plant trees so that our sons and daughters, and their sons and daughters, can enjoy the shade.

There can be no debate that we possess a collective moral responsibility to leave a better world for our children rather than a devastated planet stripped of its resources.

Doing what's best for our kids means restoring balance, commonsense and conservation to the management of our natural resources.

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.

Earth is abundant with plentiful resources. Our practice of rationing resources through monetary control is no longer relevant and is counter-productive to our survival.

What we are doing is, rather than living on the interest of our basic biological capital, we're using up our capital, so we're dipping into our capital. We're using up what should be our children's and grandchildren's legacy.

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

We have to understand in value what the services of nature are so that we can understand that degrading them is an irreplaceable resource that no amount of money or human ingenuity can replace.

I think the greatest challenge in environmentalism and the most rewarding challenge is trying to figure out how humans can meet their needs while protecting the environment.

I think about sustainability all the time, whether it's with fish or farmers in Eastern Oregon.

Act so that the effects of your actions are compatible with the permanence of genuine human life.

President Obama has expressed his commitment to responsible stewardship of our land, water, and other natural resources. And one way of restoring the land to its natural condition is what we are doing here today - breaking pavement for the People's Garden.

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