Quote

For me, the opposite of scarcity is not abundance. It's enough. I'm enough. My kids are enough.

It is more rewarding to be complicit with scarcity than excess.

When resources become skimpy, human beings don't suddenly cooperate to conserve what's left. They fight to the last scrap for possession of a diminishing resource.

I think we have to be not so afraid of scarcity. We have to be willing to give away all things.

Overcrowded cities are spawning increasingly lawless suburbs. Waste is accumulating in and around them, straining the capacity to deal with it.

I suspect that a huge amount of the anxiety and suffering that we see around can be closely traced to our wanton misuse of our resources. Just look at any garbage dump and see what is wasted. In a sense, we've wasted our souls.

Does this planet have enough resources so seven or eight billion can have the same level of consumption and waste that today is seen in rich societies? It is this level of hyper-consumption that is harming our planet.

Obviously, waste disposal is an enormous and fantastic industry.

We cannot afford idleness, waste or inefficiency.