There are plenty of risks when we encourage "investment" or commoditization of natural resources, as power dynamics may mean that poor people (who are often marginalized and have less power) are sidelined by more powerful interests when money is involved.

If you educate a girl, you educate a nation.

Early marriage is most prevalent in communities suffering deep, chronic poverty.

The environmental community has an opportunity to create and leverage partnerships with the development community on social issues, rather than trying to develop new expertise of its own.

When a child is starving, a family may not be able to think about long-term sustainability or damage to ecosystems that support endangered species.

You can't marginalize more than half of the globe's population and expect to see any meaningful solutions to the problems that ail the world.

What keeps me motivated is going out to the field and seeing programs that incorporate a focus on both people and the planet, and seeing how mutually reinforcing they can really be.