Quotes About Sustainability

If we get a breakthrough in cheap hydrogen, for example, we might not need to worry as much about getting a magic battery.

In particular, Green Premiums are a fantastic lens for making decisions. They help us put our time, attention, and money to their best use. Looking at all the different premiums, we can decide which zero-carbon solutions we should deploy now and where we should pursue breakthroughs because the clean alternatives aren't cheap enough. They help us answer questions like these:

Which zero-carbon options should we be deploying now? Answer: the ones with a low Green Premium, or no premium at all. If we're not deploying these solutions already, it's a sign that cost isn't the barrier. Something else—like outdated public policies or lack of awareness—is stopping us from getting them out there in a big way.

We need to channel the world's passion and its scientific IQ into deploying the clean energy solutions we have now, and inventing new ones, so we stop adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.

CGIAR is the world's largest agricultural research group: In short, it helps create better plants and better animal genetics.

Tip: Keep the Green Premiums in mind and ask whether they're low enough for middle-income countries to pay.

The share of global power that comes from burning coal (roughly 40 percent) hasn't changed in 30 years. Oil and natural gas together have been hovering around 26 percent for three decades. All told, fossil fuels provide two-thirds of the world's electricity. Solar and wind, meanwhile, account for 7 percent.

With all the additional electricity we'll be using, and assuming that wind and solar play a significant role, completely decarbonizing America's power grid by 2050 will require adding around 75 gigawatts of capacity every year for the next 30 years.

If you like having an ozone layer, you can thank an international agreement called the Montreal Protocol.

Cities need to change the way they grow. Urban areas are home to more than half the people on earth—a proportion that will rise in the years ahead—and they're responsible for more than three-quarters of the world's economy. As they expand, many of the world's fast-growing cities end up building over floodplains, forests, and wetlands that could absorb rising waters during a storm or hold reservoirs of water during a drought.

The world needs to provide more energy so the poorest can thrive, but we need to provide that energy without releasing any more greenhouse gases. Now the problem seemed even harder.

It wasn't enough to deliver cheap, reliable energy for the poor. It also had to be clean.

If the vehicle you took to work or school today was powered by electricity, great—though that electricity was probably generated using a fossil fuel.

What's most important is that the world get serious once again about advancing the field of nuclear energy. It's just too promising to ignore

Extra heat won't be good for the animals we eat and get milk from; it will make them less productive and more prone to dying young, which in turn will make meat, eggs, and dairy more expensive.

The countries that build great zero-carbon companies and industries will be the ones that lead the global economy in the coming decades.

And, because greenhouse gases remain in the atmosphere for so long, the planet will stay warm for a long time even after we get to zero.

Instead, in all likelihood, in a zero-carbon future we will still be producing some emissions, but we'll have ways to remove the carbon they emit.

Fifty-one billion is how many tons of greenhouse gases the world typically adds to the atmosphere every year.

New Rule: You don't have to put the cap back on the bottled water after every sip. It's water, not a genie.

We should stop worrying so much about the price of gasoline and start considering its cost . You really want to be patriotic? Don't change your car by putting a flag on it, change the car.

I learned about the yucca plant, and how the Indians made rope and sandals and mats and baskets, even soap from it, and how they boiled its buds and flowers and fruits to eat. I learned about manzanita and piñon nuts and mesquite beans, and how to crush dried acorns in a mortar, then bake them in unleavened cakes. I had even tasted the stuff and wished I hadn't.

The melting of the ice caps was so severe, the gravitational effect could be felt throughout the planet. The life of the ocean had been harvested at an unsustainable pace and pollution was killing off the coral and other underwater life.

I must not become so absorbed in my scientific work that I forget to fish and end up with nothing to eat.