Sustainable Future Quotes & Sayings

Americans have made it clear we want to build a more sustainable future. I am excited to harness that energy and see what we can create together. — Frances Beinecke

Sustainable Development is more than meeting the needs of today and the future generations; to my understanding this definition better fits sex industry. — M.F. Moonzajer

Saudi Arabian oil production is at or very near its peak sustainable volume (if it did not, in fact peak almost 25 years ago), and is likely to go into decline in the very foreseeable future. There is only a small probability that Saudi Arabia will ever deliver the quantities of petroleum that are assigned to it in all the major forecasts of world oil production and consumption. — Matthew Simmons

We need to recognise that slowing population growth is one of the most cost-effective and reliable ways of easing pressure on our environment and securing a sustainable future for us all — Lionel Shriver

Here is an all-too-brief summary of Buffett's approach: He looks for what he calls "franchise" companies with strong consumer brands, easily understandable businesses, robust financial health, and near-monopolies in their markets, like H & R Block, Gillette, and the Washington Post Co. Buffett likes to snap up a stock when a scandal, big loss, or other bad news passes over it like a storm cloud - as when he bought Coca-Cola soon after its disastrous rollout of "New Coke" and the market crash of 1987. He also wants to see managers who set and meet realistic goals; build their businesses from within rather than through acquisition; allocate capital wisely; and do not pay themselves hundred-million-dollar jackpots of stock options. Buffett insists on steady and sustainable growth in earnings, so the company will be worth more in the future than it is today. — Benjamin Graham

Entranced by promises of a material paradise of limitless luxury, humanity has too long ignored the mismatch between the imperatives of our existence as living beings on a finite planet and the imperatives of the institutions of money that chart our path to the future. Created to build colonial empires in service to kings, global corporations are ill suited to the task of building just, sustainable, and compassionate civil societies that nurture sufficiency, partnership, and respect for the whole of life. — David Korten

The investment in our mining industry has been very positive for Australia but we need to be doing more if we want, as I do, more revenue for our defence.. which I think is under-resourced.. our police, our elderly, our hospitals, roads, infrastructure and communication, to be able to repay our debts and enable sustainable job opportunities for existing and future generations. — Gina Rinehart

Unilever, Nestle and SAB Miller are all taking a long-term approach to investing in sustainable resource consumption. Each is driving through better resource management, which is expected to yield positive returns in the future. — Jacob Rothschild

We need a mobilized and active civil society using its purchasing power to demand sustainable products and practices. It is also essential that governments commit to the future, creating fiscal and regulatory conditions for sustainable policies to thrive. — Guilherme Leal

No one person has to do it all but if each one of us follow our heart and our own inclinations we will find the small things that we can do to create a sustainable future and a healthy environment. — John Denver

Global warming is not only the number one environmental challenge we face today, but one of the most important issues facing all of humanity ... We all have to do our part to raise awareness about global warming and the problems we as a people face in promoting a sustainable environmental future for our planet. — Leonardo DiCaprio

We must turn the greatest collective challenge facing humankind today, climate change, into the greatest opportunity for common progress towards a sustainable future — Ban Ki-moon

Sustainable development is a fundamental break that's going to reshuffle the entire deck. There are companies today that are going to dominate in the future simply because they understand that. — Francois-Henri Pinault

Sustainable development is the pathway to the future we want for all. It offers a framework to generate economic growth, achieve social justice, exercise environmental stewardship and strengthen governance. — Ban Ki-moon

I think we need to make sure that we are putting Social Security on a sustainable path. It's absolutely something that the federal government is going to be involved in, in the future. — Ken Buck

Innovations that are guided by smallholder farmers, adapted to local circumstances, and sustainable for the economy and environment will be necessary to ensure food security in the future. — Bill Gates

Fundamentally transforming the foundations of the economy is the biggest contribution we can make towards building a sustainable future. The current economic crisis may be painful, but it will be nothing compared with the crises we will face if we continue to grow in a way that threatens the life-support systems on which we rely — Jonathon Porritt

We will continue to offer the most dynamic vehicles in the future. However, we have also made it our mission to be sustainable as a company. — Norbert Reithofer

We know the problems ... and we know the solution; sustainable development. The issue is the political will — Tony Blair

It is only through developing and maximizing all its natural resources that a sustainable future for Africa and its people can be secured. — Nicky Oppenheimer

There is no sustainable future for fisheries as long as human populations continue to increase. — Paul Watson

Everyone talks about green cities now, but the concrete results in affluent cities mostly involve curbside composting and tackling solar panels onto rooftops while residents continue to drive, to stop, to eat organic pears flown in from Argentina, to be part of the big machine of consumption and climate change. The free-range chickens and Priuses are great, but they alone aren't adequate tools for creating a truly different society and ecology. The future, at least the sustainable one, isn't going to be invented by people who are happily surrendering selective bits and pieces of environmentally unsound privilege. It's going to be made by those who had all that taken away from them or never had it in the first place. {...} There is no moral reason why they should do and be better than the rest of us - but there is a practical one. They have to. Detroit is where change is most urgent and therefore most viable. — Rebecca Solnit

Switching to 'Renewables' generates jobs, skills, purpose, power, wealth, future, resilience, autonomy, freedom, unity: Sustainable Society — Dave Hampton

You needn't be confused about which "expert" to believe, just talk to elders around you, people who have lived in your part of the world for the past seventy or eighty years. Ask them what they remember about the air, about other species, about the water, about neighbourhoods and communities, about caring between people and the ways they communicated and entertained each other. Our elders tell us of the immense changes that have occurred in the span of a single human life; all you have to do is to project the rate of change they have experienced into the future to get an idea of what might be left in the coming decades. Is this progress? Is this way of life sustainable? — David Suzuki

Smart, sustainable, inclusive growth is the key to job-creation and the future prosperity of Europe. — Jose Manuel Barroso

If something is sustainable, it means we can go on doing it indefinitely. If it isn't, we can't — Jonathon Porritt

A truly sustainable relationship between earnings and operating cash flow requires that the two measures grow at comparable rates over the long term. When their rates of growth depart, an understanding of the causes can provide insight into how that discrepancy might be resolved. Such insight will provide guidance on the direction of future earnings and cash flow. — Charles W. Mulford

Short term "dash for cash" economic solutions hinder progress towards a better, more sustainable, world — Phil Harding

The transition to a low-carbon economy will be one of the defining issues of the 21st century. This plan sets out a route-map for the UK's transition from here to 2020 ... every business, every community will need to be involved. Together we can create a more secure, more prosperous low carbon Britain and a world which is sustainable for future generations. — Ed Miliband

Achieving sustainable ways of living is inextricably linked to how we organize work in the future. State of the World 2014 makes an important contribution by illustrating how trade unions, far from being outdated, will be at the forefront of a just transition. It is a challenging compilation?coming at exactly the right time. — Sharan Burrow

It is important what you eat now, what you do now. If we were interested in a sustainable planet where other generations have a right to a decent future, we would not live like this. — Sebastiao Salgado

Ideally I envision a future where people are supporting themselves and each other using the things we already have - perhaps a place where one can fully support oneself with the help of others within smaller, sustainable communities. Being interdependent instead of relying mostly on machines for the things we need. — Mary Mattingly

The future of America is not an entitlement. We have been given a treasure chest of gifts and opportunities, but some people are being left behind, and success is not sustainable unless it is shared. — Howard Schultz

As we enter the 21st Century it is clear that we have entered an unprecedented global age in which our diverse cultures, religions, philosophies, worldviews and perspectives encounter one another in the marketplace of our global village. It is now clear that our future sustainability on this planet calls for radical advances in our rational and human capacities to negotiate the powerful forces between worlds as the human family moves towards a sustainable global civilization. — Ashok Gangadean

We can have democracy and a prosperous, just, and sustainable human future. Or we can have corporate rule. We cannot have both. — David Korten

There is enough for everyone to have what they need without exploitation. Adequate distribution of resources, including education, without violence can lead to a sustainable system that doesn't stress the ecosphere. Alternately, continued violence feeds population surges and hoarding the products of exploitative extraction, which endanger the survival of our species. In short, if we want a future with humans on Earth, we've got to stop war. — Vern Huffman

Imagine if all the car makers in the world were to sit down together to design one extremely simple, embellishment-free, functional car that was made from the most environmentally-sustainable materials, how cheap to buy and humanity-and-Earth-considerate that vehicle would be. And imagine all the money that would be saved by not having different car makers duplicating their efforts, competing and trying to out-sell each other, and overall how much time that would liberate for all those people involved in the car industry to help those less fortunate and suffering in the world. Likewise, imagine when each house is no longer designed to make an individualised, ego-reinforcing, status-symbol statement for its owners and all houses are constructed in a functionally satisfactory, simple way, how much energy, labour, time and expense will be freed up to care for the wellbeing of the less fortunate and the planet. — Jeremy Griffith

'Sustainable Development' is an oxymoron. 'Development' in all it's senses entails expansion and wanting more. Continual expansion and wanting more are unsustainable. Globally we are approaching the point when the only sustainable way forward is to want less. Indeed, the choice element may be removed from us and we will just have to have less. In the meantime we still have some choices about how to influence our future — Don Johnston

The Earth Charter is important as an expression of the commitment of people throughout the Earth to evoke their own deepest moral, spiritual and ethical principles in the task of ensuring a sustainable future for those who inhabit the Earth now and those who will follow us on the Earth. — Maurice Strong

I really do encourage other manufacturers to bring electric cars to market. It's a good thing, and they need to bring it to market and keep iterating and improving and make better and better electric cars, and that's what going to result in humanity achieving a sustainable transport future. I wish it was growing faster than it is. — Elon Musk

We need a community of nations capable of space flight because we all have to be off this planet sometime in the future. Our sun is going to burn out eventually, and we are not in a sustainable situation. — Edgar Mitchell

No economic measure has more value for a nation than investing in a clean & sustainable low carbon future — Phil Harding

Also, it is interesting that developing countries, with China and India perhaps in the lead, where the future of the global environment will be decided are now on board with the case for sustainable development. — Maurice Strong

We already have many of the technologies and tools that we need to build a sustainable future. What we don't have is a new way of thinking, and that's really the hardest part. — Alex Steffen

We have a responsibility to first understand how climate change impacts all peoples of the world. Then, we must consider the individual and collective choices and actions that can move us toward a sustainable future. — Achim Steiner

Sustainability is a political choice, not a technical one. It's not a question of whether we can be sustainable, but whether we choose to be — Gary Lawrence

I would like to call on young people to commit themselves to activities that contribute toward achieving their long-term dreams. They have the energy and creativity to shape a sustainable future. To the young people I say, you are a gift to your communities and indeed the world. You are our hope and our future. — Wangari Maathai

Sustainable development: Meeting present needs without compromising the stock of natural resources remaining for future generations. In terms of buildings, it implies resource efficiency, minimum energy use, flexibility and long life — Richard Rogers

Out of necessity, one needs to occasionally consume, but I'm a little concerned that there's a little bit of a myth arising that we can buy our way to a sustainable future, and I don't think that's the case. — Chip Giller

We want a plan for a clean energy future ... an end to global warming ... Moms know about sustainable energy. After all, mother love is an unending supply and it keeps kids healthy. — Julianne Moore

I will say that again in a different way: the persistent unethical and ignorant emphasis on secrecy and on making decisions for partisan advantage or to pay off campaign contributors and select insiders is not sustainable. We the People have an opportunity to embrace this manifesto of Open-Source Everything and bury 'rule of secrecy.' This is why I am optimistic about the future. — Robert David Steele

Building sustainable cities - and a sustainable future - will need open dialogue among all branches of national, regional and local government. And it will need the engagement of all stakeholders - including the private sector and civil society, and especially the poor and marginalized. — Ban Ki-moon

Commit yourself to do whatever it is you can contribute in order to create a healthy and sustainable future - the world needs you desperately. Find that in yourself and make a commitment - that is what will change the world. — John Denver

Our vision of a sustainable future will only materialize through action taken today. — Achim Steiner

I think there is a general unrest or curiosity about what a human future is going to be like, and whether the way we're living is even sustainable. — Brit Marling

the goal of sustainable development is "to enable all people throughout the world to satisfy their basic needs and enjoy a better quality of life, without compromising the quality of life of future generations. — Krasimir Kirov

In the past we could afford a long gestation period before undertaking major environmental policy initiatives. Today the time for a well-planned transition to a sustainable system is running out. We may be moving in the right direction, but we are moving too slowly. We are failing in our responsibility to future generations and even the present one. — Kofi Annan

Full Circle integrates the indigenous and modern practices, bringing individuals, community and organizations together as indispensable collaborators realizing a co-creative, sustainable and fulfilling future. — Andrew Keegan

Sustainable development: Holding our world in trust for our children — Michael Meacher

Earth's immune system - its rapid response team of self-protection - becomes invigorated at times of peril. And one sees it at play now in the upwelling of grassroots work aimed at finding a sustainable future. — Alison Hawthorne Deming

Our planet's lands and oceans are already stretched to meet the demands of 7 billion people. The human population continues to grow. The search for sustainable solutions is an economic and a moral imperative if we are to create the future we want. — Ban Ki-moon

A sustainable economy represents nothing less than a higher social order one as concerned with future generations as with our own, and more focused on the health of the planet and the poor than on material acquisitions and military might. While it is a fundamentally new endeavor, with many uncertainties, it is far less risky than continuing with business as usual. — Lester R. Brown

To annihilate indigenous populations eventually paves the way to our own annihilation. They are the only people who practice sustainable living. We think they are relics of the past, but they may be the gatekeepers to our future. — Arundhati Roy

Though every nation must do its part to address climate change, developed nations are responsible for the lion's share of carbon pollution in the atmosphere, and they have an obligation to help developing nations transition to a sustainable future. — Frances Beinecke

We have a dire need to get onto the page as a sustainable country — Digby Jones, Baron Jones Of Birmingham

My dream is remaking and reforming a more sustainable, more livable, delicious future. — Kate Orff

With the continued support of citizens who refuse to accept inaction at the expense of future generations, we will lead the world toward a sustainable future. — Diana DeGette

Our biggest challenge in this new century is to take an idea that seems abstract - sustainable development - and turn it into a reality for all the world's people — Kofi Annan

Four in five of us are, to some extent, members of faith communities. If just a fraction of this huge body of believers were to connect their faith to sustainable development and act accordingly, with the support of their institutions, the gains could be world-changing — Ian Christie

We know what we have to do. And we know how to do it. If we fail to convert our self-destructing economy into one that is environmentally sustainable, future generations will be overwhelmed by environmental degradation and social disintegration. Simply stated, if our generation does not turn things around, our children may not have the option of doing so. — Lester R. Brown

The Neo-Feudalism of UN Agenda 21/Sustainable Development is reviving serfdom as the condition of the future. If you let it. — Rosa Koire

Do we have to wait until a disaster overwhelms us before we make the radical changes necessary to protect our world for future generations? That is the vital challenge of sustainable development. If we act now there is much that can be saved which will otherwise disappear forever — John Gummer

There can be no sustainable development without sustainable energy development — Margot Wallstrom

We must build an agenda for speedy yet sustainable economic growth that is inclusive of all, is respectful of individuals, responsive to innovation and responsible towards the future generations. — Narendra Modi

We are creating the future. It is not determined. If we get our act together and solve our current problems, we could have a sustainable, abundant future. If we don't, we could wipe ourselves out. We are on the verge of doing it with our current politics. It is regressive, going back the other way. — Edgar Mitchell

The clear and present danger of climate change means we cannot burn our way to prosperity. We already rely too heavily on fossil fuels. We need to find a new, sustainable path to the future we want. We need a clean industrial revolution. — Ban Ki-moon

conventional energy sources (while nonrenewable) will continue to be used for at least 50 years. Thus, if our definition of sustainable goes to 50 years in the future, conventional energy sources are sustainable. Indeed, because of the effects of financial markets, as the cost of conventional fuel increases because of its depletion, we can anticipate that its extraction will slow as it is replaced by renewable energy sources. Thus we can readily see the continued use of conventional fuels for the next 100 years - barring some type of unexpected scientific breakthrough. — Betty Simkins

We can make these changes if we are willing to unite and stand together. The road to a sustainable future is clear, and the technologies are ready and cost-efficient. The only thing holding us back is the lack of political will. And with the crisis at hand, this is no excuse for failing to fight for the future we want for generations to come. We must move forward fearlessly to build a mass movement with the political power necessary to create a truly sustainable energy future. We must do this - it's a matter of life and death. — Wenonah Hauter

Nature is inexhaustibly sustainable if we care for it. It is our universal responsibility to pass a healthy earth onto future generations. — Sylvia Dolson

To change our national economic story from one of financial speculation to one of future growth, we need a third industrial revolution: a green revolution. It will transform our economy as surely as the shift from iron to steel, from steam to oil. It will lead us toward a low-carbon future, with cleaner energy and greener growth. With an economy that is built to last - on more sustainable, more stable foundations — Chris Huhne

Sustainable development is a process which enables all people to realise their potential and to improve their quality of life in ways which protect and enhance the Earth's life support systems — Sara Parkin

A successful business maximizes the present value of future earnings. The first requirement, therefore, of business success is sustainable profits. One-time winnings, in business as in casinos, are disappointing. We expect more from our investments than that. — Stephen Young

We need to believe in a bright, compelling and sustainable future. Fear neither motivates people long-term nor brings out the best in them. Hope is a powerful motivator. — Arron Wood

I really hope that we'll have a sustainable future on this planet, I really do. So I probably geek out mostly about learning more about how potentially we can hopefully make that happen, hopefully we're not too far lost. — Ellen Page

It is impossible to restore the sustainable societies of indigenous and aboriginal peoples. But the values they embodied - careful stewardship of the earth, modest use of its riches, safeguarding the future of the generations to come, restraint and as high a degree of self-provisioning as possible - can reanimate ancient and still unrealized dreams of a secure sustenence for all. — Jeremy Seabrook

We make the future sustainable when we invest in the poor, not when we insist on their suffering. — Bill Gates

The slogan used to be 'Populate or perish'. We can now see that it is more like 'Populate and perish'. A sustainable future has to be based on stabilisation of both population and consumption. — Ian Lowe

Investing in women's lives is an investment in sustainable development, in human rights, in future generations - and consequently in our own long-term national interests. — Liya Kebede

But the basic value of a sustainable society, the ecological equivalent of the Golden Rule, is simple: each generation should meet its needs without jeopardizing the prospects for future generations to meet their own needs. — Alan Thein Durning

It is up to us to decide what human means, and exactly how it is different from machine, and what tasks ought and ought not to be trusted to either species of symbol-processing system. But some decisions must be made soon, while the technology is still young. And the deciding must be shared by as many citizens as possible, not just the experts. In that sense, the most important factor in whether we will all see the dawn of a humane, sustainable world in the twenty-first century will be how we deal with these machines a few of us thought up and a lot of us will be using. — Howard Rheingold