Paul Hawken Quotes

One place comprehended can make us understand other places better.

I fear that my mind would starve and that I might find myself in danger if I had no visual information, that it's chiefly the light, the shapes, the spaces, the colors that I see that compel me to keep moving forward in life and that keep me safe.

Man's heart away from nature becomes hard.

When you're doing mountain rescue, you don't take a doctorate in mountain rescue; you look for somebody who knows the terrain. It's about context.

We can't blame children for occupying themselves with Facebook rather than playing in the mud. Our society doesn't put a priority on connecting with nature. In fact, too often we tell them it's dirty and dangerous.

I try to ask visual questions. I'll ask what someone was wearing, if that seems relevant. If possible, I'll walk over the same ground that they're depicting. Of course, I can never get it precisely as it was.

In fact, quantitative findings of any material and energy changes preserve their full context only through their being seen and understood as parts of a natural order.

When you turn from one room to the next, when your animal senses no longer perceive the sounds of the dishwasher, the ticking clock, the smell of a chicken roasting - the kitchen and all its seemingly discrete bits dissolve into nothingness - or into waves of probability.

I think you always have to find where the boundary is in relation to the context in order to be able to kind of articulate how you want the space to interact with the viewer.

On almost every environmental issue I care about, in fact, I've been wrong at one point or another. I used to think that climate change was no big deal, that most environmental problems were massive exaggerations, that oil reserves were effectively unlimited, and more.

Why can I write 'South' with some assurance that you'll know I mean Richmond and don't mean Phoenix? What is it that the South's boundaries enclose?

When you walk into a room, you assess it instantaneously, habitually, before you're even aware of it. I mean, you make sure there's not a hole you're going to fall into, but mostly you're not even aware of what you're thinking.

I think we sometimes give ourselves a little too much credit as humans, as being able to control and understand nature, when in fact we do neither.

In a very basic way, a prominent landmark such as Mt. Holyoke tells you where you are. They let you know that you're not the first person in a place.

Successful occupation will not occur unless the special circumstances of this unusual country are heeded.

If you're in business or politics, you need to have an intense understanding of what's going on around you.

I have always had a predominantly visual approach to my environment.

When it comes to the environment in our own backyard, we understand it far better than anybody in Washington D.C.

Regional developers have a clear head start in their home communities. They have been there longer and understand their market. As a result, these markets are, in fact, more competitive than those in Manila.

You can put me on a plane now and I can go anywhere and just by talking having one or two conversations I can have an idea where I am in the U.S. or whatever.

It does seem like, in the world today, we've moved further and further away from wildlife. There's that sense of whatever you're scared of, you just want it to go away. Here in Australia Zoo, part of our ongoing plan is that re-connection.

You can't just go visit somewhere and come away and know how they run their business.

When you're staring at your phone to navigate and being led places, you do become less aware of your environment, and the journey becomes kind of automated. There is an aliveness that comes with having to puzzle out directions for yourself. And you have to ask other people for help, which creates opportunity for social connection.

An environment is precisely something one is unable to point to yet is strangely there nonetheless.

I don't have many hobbies or talents other than cooking, but I've always been good at figuring out a city.