This is the most inefficient system you could possibly imagine. It takes 6-10Lbs of grain or fodder to go into an animal and, in turn, yield 1Lb of protein.
— Ingrid NewkirkFounder and President of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)
“When it comes to guns, the trend of covering of mass-shootings leads the public to think the big problem is mass shootings. However, the big problems are suicides, domestic violence, known people, and gangs shooting at each other.”— Nicholas Kristof
The quote archive
A growing archive of 3,000+ moments, drawn from every interview.
This is the most inefficient system you could possibly imagine. It takes 6-10Lbs of grain or fodder to go into an animal and, in turn, yield 1Lb of protein.
— Ingrid NewkirkFounder and President of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)
From 20,000 miles away however, you couldn't see any civilisation- just the land mass and those three colours… the brown of the land, the white of the clouds and the ice, and the crystal blue of the ocean. Earth was just suspended in the blackness of space and it was an incredibly beautiful sight.
— Charlie DukeAstronaut on Apollo 16 Moon Landing Mission
Germany for example, has decided to close-down its nuclear industry. That creates a huge electricity deficit, and there is the potential to produce a large amount of renewable energy in Greece and export it to countries like that.
— Nicholas EconomidesProfessor of Economics specializing in network economics and digital markets
We used to think life could only exist in a very constrained rage of parameters; between the boiling and freezing point of water, at neutral pH, without too much pressure, with access to sunlight. What we know now is that life is more robust, and more opportunistic than we could have ever thought.
— Jill TarterPioneering astronomer & SETI Institute director searching for extraterrestrial intelligence
I'm fortunate that I can make a change that in a very positive way affects a better way of life for many humans as well as all living creatures and our planet while I'm alive and that will live on
— John Paul DejoriaCo-Founder of Paul Mitchell Systems & The Patrón Spirits Company
Climate change isn't just warming the planet - it's fundamentally rewiring the hydrological cycle. Wet places are getting wetter, dry places drier, and the timing of water availability is becoming increasingly unpredictable.
— Peter GleickHydrologist & water security expert; founded Pacific Institute
We've entered the age of Peak Water - where the easy sources are already being used and future supplies will be harder to find, more expensive to develop, and come with greater environmental and social costs.
— Peter GleickHydrologist & water security expert; founded Pacific Institute
Water is like energy - it can neither be created nor destroyed, only transformed. But unlike energy, water is essential for every single biological process. We're not just managing a resource, we're managing life itself.
— Steven ChuNobel Prize-winning physicist and U.S. Energy Secretary
The people of the world are gambling for colossal stakes. Two centuries of scientific enquiry, founded in basic physics and powerful evidence, indicate that the risks from a changing climate over the next hundred years and beyond are immense.
— Nicholas SternEconomist Known for Stern Review on Climate Change Economics
There is a strong possibility that the relationship between humans and their environment would be so fundamentally changed that hundreds of millions of people, perhaps billions, would have to move. History tells us that this carries serious risks of severe and extended conflict.
— Nicholas SternEconomist Known for Stern Review on Climate Change Economics
Studies estimate that climate change directly contributes to the death of over 400,000 people a year, and costs the world economy over $1.2 trillion per-annum. If we factor in man-made environmental pollution alongside climate-change, over 4.5 million people each year die as a direct result of man's impact on this planet.
— AuthorWe are the first generation that through its neglect could destroy the relationship between humans and the planet, and perhaps the last generation that can prevent dangerous climate change.
— Nicholas SternEconomist Known for Stern Review on Climate Change Economics
I was at one of our schools in Kenya recently, I was just chatting away to a group of children about all the things we had seen that day- the lions and how lucky they are to be sitting next to Meru National Park, and I said 'would anyone like to ask me a question?'. Suddenly this little boy put up his hand and he said 'please miss, why do men kill lions?'. Well, I could have hugged him if he wouldn't have been mortified with embarrassment.
— Virginia McKennaBritish actress known for "Born Free" and animal welfare advocacy
Much of the mistreatment of animals is due to economics; it's cheaper to raise animals for food when they're kept in a confined 'economical' way rather than letting them graze in fields. In my view, we should actually only have the free-range farms – meat would then be more expensive and more people would become vegetarian, vegan, and find alternative protein foods so that we don't cause this terrible animal suffering.
— Virginia McKennaBritish actress known for "Born Free" and animal welfare advocacy
The scale of our damage on the animal world is unimaginable. We inflict pain and suffering on wild and domestic animals. We take away their wild lands and habitats, we use them to test our medicines and they're affected by climate change, pollution and many other aspects of our world. We are the master race. We are the creatures who impose our will on virtually everything that lives and breathes. It's deeply shocking when you start to think about the scale of it.
— Virginia McKennaBritish actress known for "Born Free" and animal welfare advocacy
I started to get concerned about the natural world as a child and there are 2 images that I remember always from my childhood. In London Zoo, I remember the sound of the iron doors that clanged behind us as we went in. And there they were… these wretched creatures, walking up and down their very small caged area. I hated it! I absolutely hated it without knowing why really, at that age. Later in the Kruger, I saw a group of lions, obviously a pride, sitting peacefully and calmly under a tree. And these two contrasting images in a way became symbols for the rest of my life and the way I think about wildlife. One is how not to keep them, and one is how to leave them alone where they should be.
— Virginia McKennaBritish actress known for "Born Free" and animal welfare advocacy