We all need a little inspiration from time to time. What better way to recharge your spirit then to read the words of famous environmentalists and social thinkers? Here’s a list of environmental quotes, popular environmental slogans and even environmental bumper stickers that will give you some food for thought.
Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect. – Chief Seattle
Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit. – Edward Abbey
I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority. – E.B. White
The most alarming of all man’s assaults upon the environment is the contamination of air, earth, rivers, and sea with dangerous and even lethal materials. This pollution is for the most part irrecoverable; the chain of evil it initiates not only in the world that must support life but in living tissues is for the most part irreversible. In this now universal contamination of the environment, chemicals are the sinister and little-recognized partners of radiation in changing the very nature of the world – the very nature of its life. – Rachel Carson
Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realize we cannot eat money. – Cree Indian Proverb
And this, our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything. – William Shakespeare
Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. – John Muir
We sometimes emphasize the danger in a crisis without focusing on the opportunities that are there. We should feel a great sense of urgency because it is the most dangerous crisis we have ever faced, by far. But it also provides us with opportunities to do a lot of things we ought to be doing for other reasons anyway. And to solve this crisis we can develop a shared sense of moral purpose. – Al Gore
I can remember when the air was clean and sex was dirty. – George Burns
The old Lakota was wise. He knew that man’s heart away from nature becomes hard; he knew that lack of respect for growing, living things soon led to lack of respect for humans too. – Chief Luther Standing Bear
I think the environment should be put in the category of our national security. Defense of our resources is just as important as defense abroad. Otherwise what is there to defend? – Robert Redford
We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect. – Aldo Leopold
In wilderness is the preservation of the world. – Henry David Thoreau
The earth does not belong to us. We belong to the earth. – Chief Seattle
We won’t have a society if we destroy the environment. – Margaret Mead
Live simply so that others may simply live. – Mahatma Gandhi
If you poison the environment, the environment will poison you. – Tony Follari
The greatest danger to our future is apathy. – Jane Goodall
We never know the worth of water until the well is dry. – Thomas Fuller
We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. – Native American proverb, origin unknown
There are no passengers on Spaceship Earth. We are all crew. – Marshall McLuhan
It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment. – Ansel Adams
Stop throwing things away. There is no ‘away.’
Tree-hugging dirt-worshipper
Conservation: It means the world to me
Biodiesel: No war required
May the forest be with you
Extinct is forever
One less SUV
Save the planet… Save ourselves
There is no Earth 2.0
There is no Planet B
Will work for trees
PDE: Public Displays of Environmentalism
A culture is only as healthy as it woods.
There’s no place like home
Burn fat not gas
What will your children breathe?
Kick the CO2 habit
Ignore it and it will go away
For more quotes, check out A Dictionary of Environmental Quotations
Did we miss any funny ones, thought provoking ones, or just plain weird ones? Leave a comment and let us know!