In nature, no organic substance is synthesized unless there is provision for its degradation; recycling is enforced.
BARRY COMMONERThe modern technologist is less ‘sorcerer’ and more ‘sorcerer’s apprentice’.
More Barry Commoner Quotes
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It reflects a prevailing myth that production technology is no more amenable to human judgment or social interests than the laws of thermodynamics, atomic structure or biological inheritance.
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The AEC had at its command an army of highly skilled scientists.
BARRY COMMONER -
As the earth spins through space, a view from above the North Pole would encompass most of the wealth of the world – most of its food, productive machines, doctors, engineers and teachers. A view from the opposite pole would encompass most of the world’s poor.
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The AEC scientists were so narrowly focused on arming the United States for nuclear war that they failed to perceive facts – even widely known ones – that were outside their limited field of vision.
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Earth Day 1970 was irrefutable evidence that the American people understood the environmental threat and wanted action to resolve it.
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I see no reason to have my shirts ironed. It’s irrational.
BARRY COMMONER -
It is simply economically impossible to require controls that even approach zero emissions.
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The environmental crisis is a sign that the ecosphere is now so heavily strained that its continued stability is threatened. It is a warning that we must discover the source of this suicidal drive and master it before it destroys the environment-and ourselves.
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Everything is connected to everything else.
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In every case, the environmental hazards were made known only by independent scientists, who were often bitterly opposed by the corporations responsible for the hazards.
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Environmental quality was drastically improved while economic activity grew by the simple expedient of removing lead from gasoline – which prevented it from entering the environment.
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What is needed now is a transformation of the major systems of production more profound than even the sweeping post-World War II changes in production technology.
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Technologists practice faith too; ‘Faith that problems have solutions before having the knowledge to solve them.’
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The proper use of science is not to conquer nature but to live in it.
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Environmental pollution is an incurable disease. It can only be prevented.
BARRY COMMONER