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“Environmental protection should not be viewed as an obstacle to development. Clean air, safe water, and ecological stability are essential components of long-term economic and social well-being. Policies that sacrifice environmental security for short-term gains often transfer hidden costs to future generations.”

Last update Sept. 26, 2026. History

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“"The environment has to be balanced against the economy." This quote portrays environmental concerns as a luxury, views measures to solve environmental problems as incurring a net cost, and considers leaving environmental problems unsolved to be a money-saving device. This one-liner puts the truth exactly backwards. Environmental messes cost us huge sums of money both in the short run and in the long run; cleaning up or preventing those messes saves us huge sums in the long run, and often in the short run as well. In caring for the health of our surroundings, just as of our bodies, it is cheaper and preferable to avoid getting sick than to try to cure illnesses after they have developed.”

Jared Diamond book Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed

Source: Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed (2005), Chapter "The world as a polder: what does it all mean to us today?", section "One-liner objections" (Penguin Books, 2011, page 503, .

“Environmental protection is both the objective and the basic content of sustainable development. Nowadays, climate change, environmental pollution, energy security, water security... have become global problems, but no one country can deal with them alone.”

Nguyễn Tấn Dũng (1949) Prime Minister of Vietnam

"Prime Minister Nguyễn Tấn Dũng’s speech at the 4th National Conference on Environment" http://tapchimoitruong.vn/english-edition-i-2015-39/Prime-Minister-Nguy%E1%BB%85n-T%E1%BA%A5n-D%C5%A9ng%E2%80%99s-speech-at-the-4th-National-Conference-on-Environment-18093 (30 October 2015)

“Environmental law, policy, and progress are all based on cooperation: cooperation between the States, cooperation between the States and EPA, and cooperation between the regulators and the public. Such cooperation is essential because clean air and water and a healthy environment are essential to the American way of life and key to our economic success and competitiveness. We should be proud of the progress we have made as a Nation in emphasizing environmental stewardship while also growing our economy. If confirmed as Administrator, I will work tireless to build on such progress in promoting a healthier environment and stronger economy for future generations by focusing on three core philosophies: rule of law, cooperative federalism, and public participation.”

Scott Pruitt (1968) 14th and current Administrator of the EPA; former Attorney General from Oklahoma

Senate Confirmation Hearing Opening Statement https://www.epw.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/0e505de4-aa91-4dcc-ba23-dc9ddab01c0b/scott-pruitt-opening-statement-final-.pdf (January 18, 2017)

“I believe we need a long-term national commitment to explore the universe. And I believe this is an essential investment in the future of our nation — and our beautiful, but environmentally challenged planet.”

Gene Kranz (1933) NASA Flight Director and manager

Source: "Space Lifeguard : An Interview with Gene Kranz" at Space.com (11 April 2000)
Context: In many ways we have the young people, we have the talent, we have the imagination, we have the technology. But I don't believe we have the leadership and the willingness to accept risk, to achieve great goals. I believe we need a long-term national commitment to explore the universe. And I believe this is an essential investment in the future of our nation — and our beautiful, but environmentally challenged planet.

“Human and societal security should be seen as complementary to state security, and security must be thought of in multi-sum and multi-dimensional terms (human, national, transnational, environmental and transcivilisational).”

Nayef Al-Rodhan (1959) philosopher, neuroscientist, geostrategist, and author

Source: Emotional amoral egoism (2008), p.203

“With environmental progress continuing, environmental consciousness high among the American people and the environmental movement increasingly viewed as an obstacle to further environmental progress, both Earth Day and the environmental movement may have run their course.”

David A. Ridenour

David A. Ridenour, "Earth Day May No Longer Be Needed," National Policy Analysis #191,March 1998.

“A core part of my argument is that wealth, as distinct from income, offers the key to understanding racial stratification. … The difference between the two is often muddled in the public mind, and only recently have the social sciences begun to treat wealth as an intrinsically important indication of family well-being that is quite different from income. … Wealth represents a more permanent capacity to secure advantages in both the short and long term, and it is transferred across generations.”

Thomas Shapiro (1947) American sociologist

Source: The Hidden Cost of Being African American: How Wealth Perpetuates Inequality (2005), pp. 32-33

“Land has lost its original strategic value; military forces are no longer employed primarily to conquer land, but to ensure stable economic, energy and information flows, which constitute the true resources, along with the natural resources. Alongside military hard power, international organization are increasing attempts to use soft power, at regional level, to solve environmental problems that do not pose short-term problems, but which can generate conflicts in the medium-to-long term, such as water-related problems or desertification.”

Corrado Maria Daclon (1963) Italian journalist and scientist

From Geopolitics of Environment, A Wider Approach to the Global Challenges, La Comunità Internazionale, no. 4, (2007)

“We should know that only replacing the economics of competition and greed with the economics of equitable cooperation will guarantee a globalization that takes advantage of potential efficiency gains in ways that also promote environmental protection, international equity, economic democracy, and variety.”

Robin Hahnel (1946) American economist

Source: Panic Rules!: Everything You Need to Know about the Global Economy, 1999, p. 105-6

“Economic, social, political, environmental and population development in Thailand have created a series of problems that must be addressed addressesed by education.”

Sukavich Rangsitpol (1935) Thai politician

The Reason and the objective of Education Reform

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