The Great Disruption Quotes

“But man is part of nature and his war against nature is inevitably a war against himself.”
― Paul Gilding, The Great Disruption

“What we get from nature is fundamental to our economy, and without these inputs we would in fact produce nothing. Yet most political debates are still framed in the context of environmental protection being “nice to have” if we can afford it.”
― Paul Gilding, The Great Disruption

“It is important to emphasize this point—that environmental damage means economic loss—because many still don’t fully accept the connection.”
― Paul Gilding, The Great Disruption

“The era of procrastination, of half measures, of soothing and baffling expedience of delays, is coming to its close. In its place we are entering a period of consequences.… We cannot avoid this period, we are in it now.…”
― Paul Gilding, The Great Disruption

“Our political leaders, with rare exceptions, respond at best to what they think the politics allows them to do rather than what they feel they should do.”
― Paul Gilding, The Great Disruption

“Businesses often have a genuine, principled commitment to ethical behavior, but the evidence suggests it is only when change is profitable and in line with market reward that they shift behavior on a significant scale.”
― Paul Gilding, The Great Disruption

“we were facing was not just an energy crisis, or a population problem, or a climate crisis. Rather, it was a system design problem, with “the system” being our model of consumption-based, quantitative economic growth.”
― Paul Gilding, The Great Disruption

“But rather than a platform for issuing recriminations, our present situation is the foundation for our future story, a story of great challenges and comparably great opportunity.”
― Paul Gilding, The Great Disruption