While there may be no "right" way to value a forest or a river, there is a wrong way, which is to give it no value at all. How do we decide the value of a 700-year-old tree? We need only to ask how much it would cost to make a new one, or a new river, or even a new atmosphere.
Paul HawkenIt costs the same to send a person to prison or to Harvard. The difference is the curriculum.
Paul HawkenWe subsidize the disposal of waste in all its myriad forms โ from landfills, to Superfund cleanups, to deep-well injection, to storage of nuclear waste. In the process, we encourage an economy where 80 percent of what we consume gets thrown away after one use.
Paul HawkenWhen asked if I am pessimistic or optimistic about the future, my answer is always the same: If you look at the science about what is happening on earth and arenโt pessimistic, you donโt understand data. But if you meet the people who are working to restore this earth and the lives of the poor, and you arenโt optimistic, you havenโt got a pulse.
Paul Hawken