Wangari Maathai Quotes

Why has it seemed that the only way to protect the environment is with heavy-handed government regulation?

Good governance takes behavior that is negative or not helpful to the greater good of society, whether it's polluting behaviour, plastics, or whatever, and taxes the behaviour.

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

We have reached a new milestone as a human family. With seven billion of us now inhabiting our planet, it is time to ask some fundamental questions. How can we provide a dignified life for ourselves and future generations while preserving and protecting the global commons - the atmosphere, the oceans and the ecosystems that support us?

This Earth is our only home. Together, we must protect and cherish it.

My role is not to choose between safeguarding the economy and protecting the environment - it's about doing both.

You know, Californians care about protecting their environment. So do I. But they also care about that in the context of a healthy economy.

What we've proven is that you can protect the environment, use it wisely and grow the economy and that there is no conflict between the two.

Local innovation and initiative can help us better understand how to protect our environment.

Conservation of land and conservation of people frequently go hand in hand

We must subject the machine—technology—to control and cease despoiling the earth and filling people with goodies merely to make money.

Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed

This is the kind of balance people expect: both environment and the economy - not one or the other.

We've seen that if we do not pollute, then the environment becomes so beautiful.

Growing up Marley, we wanted anything we put our hands on to be beneficial to the environment and the community.

Protecting Americans from harm goes beyond police and national defense. It's imperative that we not destroy the commons, the physical environment on which we rely.

In time, we will have to recognise that it is not 'nature' that we need to protect, but ourselves, and we can only do this by abandoning the old, grandiose, profit-seeking schemes so beloved of our masters and learning to till the soil, live to scale, and live within our means.

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.

A sustainable world means working together to create prosperity for all.

I think today we recognize that economic activity needs to search for ways to protect the environment.

It is a wonderful honor to receive the Audubon Medal from the National Audubon Society, which for more than a century has fought tirelessly to protect and preserve our natural resources and environment for future generations.

Sustainability is the key to our survival on this planet and will also determine success on all levels.

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.

I believe the accepted model of capitalism that demands endless growth deserves the blame for the destruction of nature, and it should be displaced. Failing that, I try to work with those companies and help them change the way they think about our resources.

As a nation, we owe a great deal to the National Audubon Society, one of our most distinguished and important environmental organizations, and all those who work to protect America's open land and waterways.