8 quotes
History, as well as life itself, is complicated; neither life nor history is an enterprise for those who seek simplicity and consistency.
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed (2005)
My hope in writing this book has been that enough people will choose to profit from that opportunity to make a difference.
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed (2005)
Remember that impact is the product of two factors: population multiplied times impact per person.
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed (2005)
Those numbers may not sound like a big deal until one reflects that average global temperatures were "only" 5 degrees cooler at the height of the last Ice Age.
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed (2005)
People often ask, "What is the single most important environmental/population problem facing the world today?" A flip answer would be, "The single most important problem is our misguided focus on identifying the single most important problem!"
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed (2005)
[..] the values to which people cling most stubbornly under inappropriate conditions are those values that were previously the source of their greatest triumphs.
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed (2005)
Businesses have changed when the public came to expect and require different behavior, to reward businesses for behavior that the public wanted, and to make things difficult for businesses practising behaviors that the public didn't want. I predict that in the future, just as in the past, changes in public attitudes will be essential for changes in businesses' environmental practices.
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed (2005)
Two types of choices seem to me to have been crucial in tipping their outcomes towards success or failure: long-term planning, and willingness to reconsider core values. On reflection, we can also recognize the crucial role of these same two choices for the outcomes of our individual lives.
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed (2005)