Mathis Wackernagel > Quotes

“The last trawlers will deliver their load to those with the highest purchasing power. As the gap between high and low-income people is opening further, society's ability to react is further undermined. The reason is that influential decision-makers (who are typically in the high-income segment) are removed from the realities of overshoot. This means that our system loses necessary feedback. If those who steer society are ever more shielded from physical reality, course corrections become unlikely. Overall, the experience of many influential city dwellers is still one of expansion.”
― Mathis Wackernagel, Ecological Footprint: Managing Our Biocapacity Budget

“The way we pay for the present by liquidating the future truly fits the definition of a Ponzi scheme. Any other forms of Ponzi schemes are outlawed, only the ecological one we seem to ignore or even encourage.”
― Mathis Wackernagel, Ecological Footprint: Managing Our Biocapacity Budget