Quotes by Barry Commoner

“As the earth spins through space, a view from above the North Pole would encompass most of the wealth of the world - most of its food, productive machines, doctors, engineers and teachers. A view f...”

“My entry into the environmental arena was through the issue that so dramatically - and destructively - demonstrates the link between science and social action: nuclear weapons.”

“It reflects a prevailing myth that production technology is no more amenable to human judgment or social interests than the laws of thermodynamics, atomic structure or biological inheritance.”

“Environmental concern is now firmly embedded in public life: in education, medicine and law; in journalism, literature and art.”

“If you ask what you are going to do about global warming, the only rational answer is to change the way in which we do transportation, energy production, agriculture and a good deal of manufacturin...”

“Environmental pollution is an incurable disease. It can only be prevented.”

“In every case, the environmental hazards were made known only by independent scientists, who were often bitterly opposed by the corporations responsible for the hazards.”

“Earth Day 1970 was irrefutable evidence that the American people understood the environmental threat and wanted action to resolve it.”

“The wave of new productive enterprises would provide opportunities to remedy the unjust distribution of environmental hazards among economic classes and racial and ethnic communities.”

“The environmental crisis arises from a fundamental fault: our systems of production - in industry, agriculture, energy and transportation - essential as they are, make people sick and die.”

“By adopting the control strategy, the nation's environmental program has created a built-in antagonism between environmental quality and economic growth.”

“What I have experienced over time is that environmental problems are easier to deal with in ways that don't go into their interconnections to the rest of what we are.”

“The most meaningful engine of change, powerful enough to confront corporate power, may be not so much environmental quality, as the economic development and growth associated with the effort to imp...”

“The environmental crisis is a global problem, and only global action will resolve it.”

“Environmental quality was drastically improved while economic activity grew by the simple expedient of removing lead from gasoline - which prevented it from entering the environment.”

“The first law of ecology is that everything is related to everything else.”

“World War II had a very important impact on the development of technology, as a whole.”

“The AEC scientists were so narrowly focused on arming the United States for nuclear war that they failed to perceive facts - even widely known ones - that were outside their limited field of vision.”

“Clearly, we have compiled a record of serious failures in recent technological encounters with the environment. In each case, the new technology was brought into use before the ultimate hazards wer...”

“The peak of the [Presidential] campaign happened in Albuquerque, where a local reporter said to me, Dr. Commoner, are you a serious candidate or are you just running on the issues?”