--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: HUMANS don’t generate toxic wastes—but…" description: "\"“HUMANS don’t generate toxic wastes—but our culture certainly does. HUMANS aren’t toxic to the face of the earth—but our culture certainly is. It’s vit..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/970/daniel-quinn-1786_humanity_humans-don-t-generate-toxic-wastes-but-o_1770527.jpg" --- # HUMANS don’t generate toxic wastes—but our culture… ![“HUMANS don’t generate toxic wastes—but our culture certainly does. HUMANS aren’t toxic to the face of the earth—but our culture certainly is. It’s vitally important for our children to know that the curse that needs to be lifted from the earth is not humanity. It’s important for them to know that…” quote by Daniel Quinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/970/daniel-quinn-1786_humanity_humans-don-t-generate-toxic-wastes-but-o_1770527.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/970/daniel-quinn-1786_humanity_humans-don-t-generate-toxic-wastes-but-o_1770527.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/970/daniel-quinn-1786_humanity_humans-don-t-generate-toxic-wastes-but-o_1770527.jpg) > ““HUMANS don’t generate toxic wastes—but our culture certainly does. HUMANS aren’t toxic to the face of the earth—but our culture certainly is. It’s vitally important for our children to know that the curse that needs to be lifted from the earth is not humanity. It’s important for them to know that we may be a doomed culture, but we are not a doomed species. It’s important for them to understand that it’s not being HUMAN that is destroying the world. It’s living this way that is destroying the world. It’s important for them to know that humans have lived other ways, because it’s important for them to know that it’s possible to live other ways. Otherwise they can only repeat the falsehood spoken by that waste disposal engineer, that the only way to stop poisoning the world is to get rid of humanity.”” [Daniel Quinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-quinn/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Human culture, not humanity, creates environmental harm; alternative lifestyles can prevent ecological collapse. **In simple terms:** Culture harms Earth; humans can change. Key Takeaway Adopt sustainable cultural practices. Themes environment culture responsibility future generations Mood concerned hopeful Type activist inspirational When to use this quote - policy making - education - community planning - personal lifestyle choices Key Concepts sustainability ecocentrism Questions to Reflect On - How can we shift cultural norms? - What sustainable alternatives exist today? A Different Perspective Changing culture is complex and faces resistance. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Humanity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humanity/) [Waste disposal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/waste-disposal/) ## Related quotes > [We over-eat, over-buy, and over-built, spewing out our toxic wastes upon the earth and into the air.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-j-foster/we-over-eat-over-buy-and-over-built-spewing-out-our-toxic-wastes-upon/) [Richard J. Foster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-j-foster/) > [Toxic wastes are no longer produced, but instead the wastes from the fish are being absorbed by the plants and vice versa.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chunhern-tan/toxic-wastes-are-no-longer-produced-but-instead-the-wastes-from-the/) Chunhern Tan > [The Superfund legislation set up a system of insurance premiums collected from the chemical industry to clean up toxic wastes. This new program may…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jimmy-carter/the-superfund-legislation-set-up-a-system-of-insurance-premiums/) [Jimmy Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jimmy-carter/) > [Keep talking about moving toxic wastes, but never let it cross your mind to quit producing them. Keep Judging yourselves in Manson. Don't look…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lynette-fromme/keep-talking-about-moving-toxic-wastes-but-never-let-it-cross-your/) [Lynette Fromme](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lynette-fromme/) > [I used to read more when I was a kid than I do now. It was all sort of fuel for the fire to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-gehry/i-used-to-read-more-when-i-was-a-kid-than-i-do-now-it-was-all-sort-of/) [Frank Gehry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-gehry/) > [Our common humanity is more important than all the things that divide us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mairead-corrigan/our-common-humanity-is-more-important-than-all-the-things-that-divide/) [Mairead Corrigan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mairead-corrigan/) > [“Wednesday Wind and spindles of clouds crowding the peaks from the south. A lone chicken pecks away on the lawn… To be a concrete…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/witold-gombrowicz/wednesday-wind-and-spindles-of-clouds-crowding-the-peaks-from-the/) [Witold Gombrowicz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/witold-gombrowicz/) > [If you ever get a high official position in your country, you must see the interests of the humanity much more important than the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mehmet-murat-ildan/if-you-ever-get-a-high-official-position-in-your-country-you-must-see/) [Mehmet Murat Ildan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mehmet-murat-ildan/) > [Lies are essential to humanity. They are perhaps as important as the pursuit of pleasure and moreover are dictated by that pursuit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/lies-are-essential-to-humanity-they-are-perhaps-as-important-as-the/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [How many people on Earth serve people? And how many people on Earth serve the Earth? The difference in the numbers must be enormous.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-muller/how-many-people-on-earth-serve-people-and-how-many-people-on-earth/) [Robert Muller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-muller/) > [“Let's gather the world in a game of love with the goal of kicking our tears past Eternity & she'll kick the earth into humanity.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/curtis-tyrone-jones/let-s-gather-the-world-in-a-game-of-love-with-the-goal-of-kicking-our/) [Curtis Tyrone Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/curtis-tyrone-jones/) > [Our house is burning and we look elsewhere. Nature, mutilated and over-exploited, can no longer reconstitute itself and we refuse to admit it. Humanity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-chirac/our-house-is-burning-and-we-look-elsewhere-nature-mutilated-and-over/) [Jacques Chirac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-chirac/) > [“Deliver the heart of the earth to humanity.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ilchi-lee/deliver-the-heart-of-the-earth-to-humanity/) [Ilchi Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilchi-lee/) > [Because of the inherent challenges of life on the earth, all of humanity is vulnerable. This is all the more reason to seek the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mike-love/because-of-the-inherent-challenges-of-life-on-the-earth-all-of/) [Mike Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mike-love/) > [“We humans who art on Earth Humanity is special Our kingdom has come Do what we innately know to be right On earth, because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-brigstocke/we-humans-who-art-on-earth-humanity-is-special-our-kingdom-has-come/) [Marcus Brigstocke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-brigstocke/) ## More by Daniel Quinn > [“Because we imagine that we are what humanity was divinely destined to become, we assume that our prehistoric ancestors were trying to be us,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-quinn/because-we-imagine-that-we-are-what-humanity-was-divinely-destined-to/) [daniel quinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-quinn/) > [The deer aren't our prey or our possessions -- they're us. They're us at one point in the cycle of life and we're them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-quinn/the-deer-aren-t-our-prey-or-our-possessions-they-re-us-they-re-us-at/) [Daniel Quinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-quinn/) > [ “\[N\]ow we have a clearer idea what this story is all about: The world was made for man, and man was made to rule… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-quinn/n-ow-we-have-a-clearer-idea-what-this-story-is-all-about-the-world/) [Daniel Quinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-quinn/) > [The premise of the Taker story is 'the world belongs to man'. … The premise of the Leaver story is 'man belongs to the world'.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-quinn/the-premise-of-the-taker-story-is-the-world-belongs-to-man-the/) [Daniel Quinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-quinn/) > [“Pharaohs It took Khufu twenty-three years to build his Great Pyramid at Giza, where some eleven hundred stone blocks, each weighing about two and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-quinn/pharaohs-it-took-khufu-twenty-three-years-to-build-his-great-pyramid/) [Daniel Quinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-quinn/) > [Man's destiny was to conquer and rule the world, and this is what he's done.. almost. He hasn't quite made it, and it looks…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-quinn/man-s-destiny-was-to-conquer-and-rule-the-world-and-this-is-what-he-s/) [Daniel Quinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-quinn/) > [“Many peoples practiced agriculture, but they were never obsessed by the delusion that what they were doing was \*right\*, that everyone in the entire…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-quinn/many-peoples-practiced-agriculture-but-they-were-never-obsessed-by/) [Daniel Quinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-quinn/) > [“No undesirable behavior has ever been eliminated by passing a law against it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-quinn/no-undesirable-behavior-has-ever-been-eliminated-by-passing-a-law/) [Daniel Quinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-quinn/) > [“How easy it is first to leap to a false conclusion about someone and then to view everything he does in light of that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-quinn/how-easy-it-is-first-to-leap-to-a-false-conclusion-about-someone-and/) [Daniel Quinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-quinn/) > [Far and away the most futile admonition Christ ever offered was when he said, 'Have no care for tomorrow. Don't worry about whether you're…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-quinn/far-and-away-the-most-futile-admonition-christ-ever-offered-was-when/) [Daniel Quinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-quinn/) > [During your lifetime, the people of our culture are going to figure out how to live sustainably on this planet--or they're not. Either way,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-quinn/during-your-lifetime-the-people-of-our-culture-are-going-to-figure/) [Daniel Quinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-quinn/) > [“Everyone in your culture knows this. Man was born to turn the world into a paradise, but tragically he was born flawed. And so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-quinn/everyone-in-your-culture-knows-this-man-was-born-to-turn-the-world/) [Daniel Quinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-quinn/) > [Most beginning writers - and I was the same - are like chefs trying to cook great dishes that they've never tasted themselves. How…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-quinn/most-beginning-writers-and-i-was-the-same-are-like-chefs-trying-to/) [Daniel Quinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-quinn/) > [“Westereners often think that the East is one vast Buddhist temple, which is rather like thinking the West is one vast Carthusian monastery. If…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-quinn/westereners-often-think-that-the-east-is-one-vast-buddhist-temple/) [Daniel Quinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-quinn/) > [“Man's destiny was to conquer and rule the world, and this is what he's done--almost. He hasn't quite made it, and it looks as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-quinn/man-s-destiny-was-to-conquer-and-rule-the-world-and-this-is-what-he-s-2/) [Daniel Quinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-quinn/) [Explore all 208 Daniel Quinn quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-quinn/) ## More Humanity quotes > [Scrabble - The game is available in Braille. That’s a nice fact. This makes me feel better about humanity for some reason. I can’t…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/scrabble-the-game-is-available-in-braille-that-s-a-nice-fact-this/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The truth is, of course, that the curtness of the Ten Commandments is an evidence, not of the gloom and narrowness of a religion,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-truth-is-of-course-that-the-curtness-of-the-ten-commandments-is/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Half the misery of human life might be extinguished if men would alleviate the general curse they lie under by mutual offices of compassion,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-addison/half-the-misery-of-human-life-might-be-extinguished-if-men-would/) [Joseph Addison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-addison/) > [During human progress, every science is evolved out of its corresponding art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-spencer/during-human-progress-every-science-is-evolved-out-of-its/) [Herbert Spencer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-spencer/) > [“Is it necessary to recall that the earth is not infinite, and that our civilization is close to having invaded all of it? The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabriel-tarde/is-it-necessary-to-recall-that-the-earth-is-not-infinite-and-that-our/) Gabriel Tarde > [“If attempting to make the world a civilized one, makes you a bad woman in the eyes of the dumb patriarchal society, then, by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhijit-naskar/if-attempting-to-make-the-world-a-civilized-one-makes-you-a-bad-woman/) [Abhijit Naskar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhijit-naskar/) > [“Once the switch of parenthood is thrown, it changes you for ever & you can never escape the extra pull of humanity it gives…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hammond/once-the-switch-of-parenthood-is-thrown-it-changes-you-for-ever-you/) [Richard hammond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hammond/) > [“The power of imagination is strongest in the place of solitude.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sunday-adelaja/the-power-of-imagination-is-strongest-in-the-place-of-solitude/) [Sunday Adelaja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sunday-adelaja/) > [“Is there any holy beings like human beings?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/is-there-any-holy-beings-like-human-beings/) [Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/) > [“I now know that deep within the human concept is something dark, selfish, and completely willing to do whatever is necessary to support the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melissa-west/i-now-know-that-deep-within-the-human-concept-is-something-dark/) [Melissa West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melissa-west/) > [The concept of humanity is an especially useful ideological instrument of imperialist expansion, and in its ethical-humanitarian form it is a specific vehicle of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-schmitt/the-concept-of-humanity-is-an-especially-useful-ideological/) [Carl Schmitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-schmitt/) > [“He grew away from old associations, and saw something new in life and humanity. Secondarily, he made close acquaintance with phenomena which he had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hardy/he-grew-away-from-old-associations-and-saw-something-new-in-life-and/) [Thomas Hardy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-hardy/) > [What is accurately portrayed is the rich humanity not just of Martin Luther King but of the movement, which was a multiracial movement. You…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/what-is-accurately-portrayed-is-the-rich-humanity-not-just-of-martin/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [He is not humanity deified. He is not Godhead humanized. He is God. He is man. He is all that God is, and all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-spurgeon/he-is-not-humanity-deified-he-is-not-godhead-humanized-he-is-god-he/) [Charles Spurgeon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-spurgeon/) > [You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is like an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/you-must-not-lose-faith-in-humanity-humanity-is-like-an-ocean-if-a/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) [Browse all 9,796 Humanity quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humanity/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“HUMANS don’t generate toxic wastes—but our culture certainly does. HUMANS aren’t toxic to the face of the earth—but our culture certainly is. It’s vitally important for our children to know that the curse that needs to be lifted from the earth is not humanity. It’s important for them to know that we may be a doomed culture, but we are not a doomed species. It’s important for them to understand that it’s not being HUMAN that is destroying the world. It’s living this way that is destroying the world. It’s important for them to know that humans have lived other ways, because it’s important for them to know that it’s possible to live other ways. 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