George

“The “Ostriches” in this analysis represent the truest adherents of the old cornucopian paradigm. The “Realists” are the truest adherents of the new ecological paradigm. The world looks very different to people who think in terms of such different perspectives. Communication between them can be as difficult as between people who share no common language. Paradigm differences were thus bound to make painful the process of adjusting to post-exuberant realities.”
― William R. Catton Jr., Overshoot: The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change

“As numerous and as technologically advanced as mankind on the average had already become after four centuries of exuberance, we had besieged ourselves. Each of us was now doing damage, just by living, to the life support systems of our finite planet.”
― William R. Catton Jr., Overshoot: The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change

“It was as if a family whose members were living far beyond their current income should urge the head of the household to solve their problem of overspending by increasing his proficiency in filling out withdrawal slips at the bank. It was as if they were to commend rather than reprimand him for withdrawing more each week than the week before. Newspeak: “Extraction is production.”
― William R. Catton Jr., Overshoot: The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change

“Doctrines may be a frightful burden, Sumner said, for, with the prestige of antiquity and tradition, they deprive the living generation of an open-minded capacity to face facts.”
― William R. Catton Jr., Overshoot: The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change