Ecocivilization Quotes

“There is one constituency, comprising a large part of the living Earth, whose rights have been largely ignored by the vast bulk of humanity. Covering 71 percent of Earth’s surface, and containing 97 percent of its water, the oceans are in deep crisis and yet are barely protected. Overuse of nitrogen fertilizers has created more than 700 ocean dead zones covering about 100,000 square miles. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a vast gyrating accumulation of plastic debris twice the size of Texas, contains nearly 2 trillion pieces of plastic. The ocean absorbs about one third of humanity’s fossil fuel emissions, which has increased its acidity by over 30 percent, impairing shell and coral formation, which is further damaged by global heating. As a result of all this, it’s been estimated that, by 2050, at current rates, up to 90 percent of corals will have died off and there will be more plastic in the ocean by weight than fish.[18] The primary response of the world’s decision-makers has been, not to protect the oceans, but to speed up its exploitation. In chapter 1, we discussed how scientists examining the increasing scale of humanity’s impact on Earth have called the period since World War II the Great Acceleration. As terrestrial resources get exhausted, and technological advances make even remote marine areas accessible, governments and corporations see the next frontier for global capitalism in the ocean, launching a free-for-all scramble that scientists are calling the “Blue Acceleration.” The numerous tentacles of this new Windigo onslaught extend across oil and gas production, mineral exploration, fish farming, factory trawlers, container shipping, tourism, desalination, and cable laying.[19]”
― Jeremy Lent, Ecocivilization: Making a World that Works for All

“This situation is deliberately exacerbated by planned obsolescence: creating products intended to require replacement within short time periods, thereby increasing sales and profits for corporations. General Electric pioneered this cynical ploy in the 1920s, when they formed a cartel to shorten the lifespan of lightbulbs by about 60 percent, leading to a surge in revenues. The lifespan of household appliances, such as refrigerators or washing machines, has dropped to less than seven years, not because of wear and tear but usually because a small electrical component fails, which has been designed to be prohibitively expensive to replace. Tech companies such as Apple have further intensified planned obsolescence through regularly updating operating systems that cause older devices to become too slow to use.”
― Jeremy Lent, Ecocivilization: Making a World that Works for All

“During his 1968 presidential election campaign, Senator Robert F. Kennedy denounced GDP in a historic speech, declaring: It counts napalm and counts nuclear warheads and armored cars for the police to fight the riots in our cities and the television programs which glorify violence in order to sell toys to our children. Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play…It measures everything in short, except that which makes life worthwhile. Kennedy, killed by an assassin’s bullet three months later, never got the chance to turn his critique into practice.”
― Jeremy Lent, Ecocivilization: Making a World that Works for All