--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Our biggest moral debt is to the…" description: "\"Our biggest moral debt is to the environment. Take-take-take, nothing given back.\" — Margaret Atwood" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb2/margaret-atwood-40_character_our-biggest-moral-debt-is-to-the-environ_146391.jpg" --- # Our biggest moral debt is to the environment… ![“Our biggest moral debt is to the environment. Take-take-take, nothing given back.” quote by Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb2/margaret-atwood-40_character_our-biggest-moral-debt-is-to-the-environ_146391.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb2/margaret-atwood-40_character_our-biggest-moral-debt-is-to-the-environ_146391.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb2/margaret-atwood-40_character_our-biggest-moral-debt-is-to-the-environ_146391.jpg) > “Our biggest moral debt is to the environment. Take-take-take, nothing given back.” [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. We owe the planet a deep responsibility because we have taken from it without returning. **In simple terms:** We must repay the environment for our exploitation. Key Takeaway Act to restore what we have taken. Themes environment responsibility ethics Mood concerned urgent Type ethical activist When to use this quote - policy making - personal consumption - corporate practices Key Concepts sustainability intergenerational justice Questions to Reflect On - How can we measure our ecological debt? - What actions can repair it? A Different Perspective Restoration requires collective action, not just individual guilt. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Character](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/character/) [Environment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/environment/) [Moral](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moral/) ## Related quotes > [Teach her story to future generations, and at least the moral debt owed to Jean McConville can be repaid. Jean McConville. Jean McConville. Jean…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amanda-foreman/teach-her-story-to-future-generations-and-at-least-the-moral-debt/) [Amanda Foreman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amanda-foreman/) > [Achieving the right to basic education for all is thus one of the biggest moral challenges of our times.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/koichiro-matsuura/achieving-the-right-to-basic-education-for-all-is-thus-one-of-the/) [Koichiro Matsuura](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/koichiro-matsuura/) > [You have to maintain who you are as a person and stay true to yourself - that's my biggest moral as a human being,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josh-hutcherson/you-have-to-maintain-who-you-are-as-a-person-and-stay-true-to/) [Josh Hutcherson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josh-hutcherson/) > [I think¦ that I would rather recollect a life misspent on fragile things than spent avoiding moral debt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-think-that-i-would-rather-recollect-a-life-misspent-on-fragile/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [They all attended Hester's church, which Dellarobia viewed as a complicated pyramid scheme of moral debt and credit resting ultimately on the shoulders of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-kingsolver/they-all-attended-hester-s-church-which-dellarobia-viewed-as-a/) [Barbara Kingsolver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-kingsolver/) > [I think...that I would rather recollect a life mis-spent on fragile things than spent avoiding moral debt.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/i-think-that-i-would-rather-recollect-a-life-mis-spent-on-fragile/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [A society which believes in a worthwhile future saves in the present so as to invest in the future. 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And the moment is the only time we can be fine in.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/i-m-fine-said-pilar-for-the-moment-and-the-moment-is-the-only-time-we/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [And yet it disturbs me to learn I have hurt someone unintentionally. I want all my hurts to be intentional.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/and-yet-it-disturbs-me-to-learn-i-have-hurt-someone-unintentionally-i/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [“Mary: Some call this "Eve's curse," but I think that is stupid because the real curse of Eve was having to put up with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/mary-some-call-this-eve-s-curse-but-i-think-that-is-stupid-because/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [“The birds were singing around me, but I reflected that the very birds were strangers to me, for I did not even know their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/the-birds-were-singing-around-me-but-i-reflected-that-the-very-birds/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [“Strange how we decorate pain. These ribbons, for instance, and the small hard teardrops of blood. Who are they for? Do we think the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/strange-how-we-decorate-pain-these-ribbons-for-instance-and-the-small/) [margaret atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [I wanted to forget the past, but it refused to forget me; it waited for sleep, then cornered me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/i-wanted-to-forget-the-past-but-it-refused-to-forget-me-it-waited-for/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [“Back at home they drew the curtains and read, with disapproval, with relish, with avidity and glee - even the ones who'd never thought…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/back-at-home-they-drew-the-curtains-and-read-with-disapproval-with/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [“It's my fault. I am forgetting too much.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/it-s-my-fault-i-am-forgetting-too-much/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [All fiction is about people, unless it's about rabbits pretending to be people. It's all essentially characters in action, which means characters moving through…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/all-fiction-is-about-people-unless-it-s-about-rabbits-pretending-to/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [“Simon walks back to the house alone. The night is clear and warm, with a moon, almost full, enclosed in a nimbus of mist;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/simon-walks-back-to-the-house-alone-the-night-is-clear-and-warm-with/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [“There is indeed something delightful about being able to combine obedience and disobedience in the same act.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/there-is-indeed-something-delightful-about-being-able-to-combine/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [“Every time the women appear, Snowman is astonished all over again. They're every known colour from the deepest black to whitest white, they're various…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/every-time-the-women-appear-snowman-is-astonished-all-over-again-they/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [Once you publish a book, it is out of your control. You cannot dictate how people read it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/once-you-publish-a-book-it-is-out-of-your-control-you-cannot-dictate/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [“The more difficult it was to love the particular man beside us, the more we believed in Love, abstract and total. We were waiting,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/the-more-difficult-it-was-to-love-the-particular-man-beside-us-the/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [“She knows she's deceiving herself about that, but she prefers to deceive herself. She desperately needs to believe such pure joy is still possible.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/she-knows-she-s-deceiving-herself-about-that-but-she-prefers-to/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) [Explore all 2,072 Margaret Atwood quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) ## More Character quotes > [This may sound strange, but although I feel like I know everything about my characters, the brand of shampoo they use, how many cavities…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gail-honeyman/this-may-sound-strange-but-although-i-feel-like-i-know-everything/) [Gail Honeyman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gail-honeyman/) > [I always like a character who makes me laugh.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachael-stirling/i-always-like-a-character-who-makes-me-laugh/) [Rachael Stirling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachael-stirling/) > [Social responsibility above the level of family, or at most of tribe, requires imagination-- devotion, loyalty, all the higher virtues -- which a man…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-a-heinlein/social-responsibility-above-the-level-of-family-or-at-most-of-tribe/) [Robert A. 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But, if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/if-you-are-well-mannered-towards-those-whose-views-are-similar-to/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Democracy is based on the conviction that man has the moral and intellectual capacity, as well as the inalienable right, to govern himself with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-s-truman/democracy-is-based-on-the-conviction-that-man-has-the-moral-and/) [Harry S. 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