Lester R. Brown

The challenge is either to build an economy that is sustainable or to stay with our unsustainable economy until it declines. It…

— Lester R. Brown

A sustainable economy represents nothing less than a higher social order one as concerned with future generations as with our own, and…

— Lester R. Brown

We are witnessing the beginning of one of the great tragedies of history. The United States, in a misguided effort to reduce…

— Lester R. Brown

The problem with water, though, is that the shortfalls don't show up until the very end. You can go on pumping unsustainably…

— Lester R. Brown

In Mexico City, Tehran, Kolkata, Bangkok, Shanghai, and hundreds of other cities, the air is no longer safe to breathe. In some…

— Lester R. Brown

We can build an economy that does not destroy its natural support systems, a global community where the basic needs of all…

— Lester R. Brown

The throwaway economy that has been evolving over the last half-century is an aberration, now itself headed for the junk heap of…

— Lester R. Brown

Among the environmental trends undermining our future are shrinking forests, expanding deserts, falling water tables, collapsing fisheries, disappearing species, and rising temperatures.…

— Lester R. Brown

One way or another, the choice will be made by our generation, but it will affect life on earth for all generations…

— Lester R. Brown

Our numbers expand, but Earth's natural systems do not.

— Lester R. Brown

Yet, most of the readily accessible reserves of oil formed over hundreds of millions of years will be consumed within a single…

— Lester R. Brown

Our early 21st century civilization is in trouble. We need not go beyond the world food economy to see this. Over the…

— Lester R. Brown

Children whose developing lungs are particularly vulnerable suffer the most from air pollution. For children, breathing the air in cities with the…

— Lester R. Brown

The 20th century was the time when the world turned to use of fossil fuels and the 21st century will be the…

— Lester R. Brown

The foundation is being laid for the emergence of both wind and solar cells as cornerstones of the new energy economy. World…

— Lester R. Brown

Rising oil prices have focused the world's attention on the depletion of oil reserves. But the depletion of underground water resources from…

— Lester R. Brown

It takes 1,000 tons of water to produce 1 ton of grain. As water becomes scarce and countries are forced to divert…

— Lester R. Brown

In this era of tightening world food supplies, the ability to grow food is fast becoming a new form of geopolitical leverage,…

— Lester R. Brown

The transition from coal, oil, and gas to wind, solar, and geothermal energy is well under way. In the old economy, energy…

— Lester R. Brown

The foundation is being laid for the emergence of both wind and solar cells as cornerstones of the new energy economy.

— Lester R. Brown

The choice is ours-yours and mine. We can stay with business as usual and preside over a global bubble economy that keeps…

— Lester R. Brown

In today's integrated world economy, ... eradicating poverty may contribute as much to U.S. security as eradicating terrorism.

— Lester R. Brown

No civilization has survived the ongoing destruction of its natural support systems. Nor will ours.

— Lester R. Brown

“We have put the extinction clock on a fast-forward.”

— Lester R. Brown

Farmers...can no longer keep up with rising demand; thus the outlook is for chronic scarcities and rising prices.

— Lester R. Brown