Sustainability isn’t just a buzzword or trend; it’s a commitment to the future. As the effects of climate change, environmental degradation, and dwindling natural resources become increasingly apparent, the urgency to adopt sustainable practices grows.
Many environmentalists, scientists, policymakers, and visionaries have spoken about the importance of sustainable living. They encourage us to think long-term, to consider the bigger picture, and to recognize the intrinsic value of the natural world.
For those looking to be inspired by the ethos of sustainability, this curated collection of quotes offers insights and inspiration. They serve as a reminder of the critical role each of us plays in shaping a sustainable future.
Whether you’re an activist, a concerned citizen, or someone curious about sustainable living — these words will challenge and inspire you to make choices that benefit both the people and the planet.
Read on to explore the wisdom of those who have championed the cause of sustainability — urging us all to act responsibly and thoughtfully for the sake of our shared home:
The Best Sustainability Quotes
Famous Quotes
“Sustainability, ensuring the future of life on Earth, is an infinite game, the endless expression of generosity on behalf of all.”
— Paul Hawken
“If it can’t be reduced, reused, repaired, rebuilt, refurbished, refinished, resold, recycled, or composted, then it should be restricted, redesigned, or removed from production.”
— Pete Seeger
“The future is in our hands. Let’s come together, raise our voices, and demand the sustainable and just world we deserve.”
— Helena Gualinga
“There is no such thing as ‘away’. When we throw anything away it must go somewhere.”
— Annie Leonard
“The first rule of sustainability is to align with natural forces, or at least not try to defy them.”
— Paul Hawken
“It is one world. And it’s in our care. For the first time in the history of humanity, for the first time in 500 million years, one species has the future in the palm of its hands.”
— David Attenborough
“Sustainability is no longer about doing less harm. It’s about doing more good.”
— Jochen Zeitz
“Refuse what you do not need; reduce what you do need; reuse what you consume; recycle what you cannot refuse, reduce, or reuse; and rot (compost) the rest.”
— Bea Johnson
“Buy less, choose well. Make it last.”
— Vivienne Westwood
“There must be a better way to make the things we want, a way that doesn’t spoil the sky, or the rain, or the land.”
— Paul McCartney
“We have the power to change the narrative. Let’s rewrite the story of our planet and ensure that it’s a tale of resilience, sustainability, and hope.”
— Jamie Margolin
Business Sustainability
“When sustainability is viewed as being a matter of survival for your business, I believe you can create massive change.”
— Cameron Sinclair
“It cannot be right to manufacture billions of objects that are used for a matter of minutes, and then are with us for centuries.”
— Roz Savage
“Many business leaders are seeing the relationship between long term success and sustainability, and that’s very heartening.”
— Jacqueline Novogratz
“Sustainability includes how you run your business, and my bottom line includes how you treat your people. Sustainability starts with your staff.”
— Tom Douglas
On Going Green
“It’s time to shift from being consumers to being caretakers. We have the power to shape a sustainable world through our choices.”
— Mari Copeny
“We don’t have to engage in grand, heroic actions to participate in change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world.”
— Howard Zinn
“A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
“Anything else you’re interested in is not going to happen if you can’t breathe the air and drink the water. Don’t sit this one out. Do something. You are by accident of fate alive at an absolutely critical moment in the history of our planet.”
— Carl Sagan
“Nature holds the key to our aesthetic, intellectual, cognitive, and even spiritual satisfaction.”
— E.O. Wilson
“It’s time to ‘warrior up,’ stop polluting the planet and give water the same rights and protections as human beings.”
— Autumn Peltier
Green Motivational Quotes
“The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.”
— Robert Swan
“At first, I was fighting to save rubber trees, then I thought I was fighting to save the Amazon rainforest. Now I realize I am fighting for humanity.”
— Chico Mendes
“Building a world where we meet our own needs without denying future generations a healthy society is not impossible, as some would assert. The question is where societies choose to put their creative efforts.”
— Christopher Flavin
“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”
— Dr. Seuss, The Lorax
“Every breath of air we take, every mouthful of food that we take, comes from the natural world. And if we damage the natural world, we damage ourselves.”
— David Attenborough
“Twenty-five years ago people could be excused for not knowing much about, or doing much, about climate change. Today we have no excuse.”
— Desmond Tutu
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
— Margaret Mead
“We are the generation with the power to change the world. Let’s use that power to create a sustainable future for all.”
— Isra Hirsi
“Small actions can create big ripples. Each one of us has the power to make a difference in building a sustainable future.”
— Xiuhtezcatl Martinez
Green Living Quotes
“We don’t need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly. We need millions of people doing it imperfectly.”
— Anne Marie Bonneau
“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference and you have to decide what kind of a difference you want to make.”
— Jane Goodall
“There must be more to life than having everything!”
— Maurice Sendak
“What’s the use of a fine house if you haven’t got a tolerable planet to put it on.”
— Henry David Thoreau
“Sustainability is not an option; it’s a mindset. We must think long-term and make choices that prioritize the health of our planet.”
— Isatou Ceesay
“We believe that we are part of the land, and that we come from the land. We learn that we have a right to protect the land and protect the water.”
— Autumn Peltier
Short Eco-Friendly Quotes
“Consume less; share better.”
— Hervé Kempf
“We can never have enough of Nature.”
— Henry David Thoreau
“We can’t just consume our way to a more sustainable world.”
— Jennifer Nini
“Treat the Earth as though we intend to stay here.”
— Crispin Tickell
“There are no passengers on spaceship earth. We are all crew.”
— Marshall McLuhan
“Be the change you wish to see in the world.”
— Mahatma Gandhi
“We are living on this planet as if we had another one to go to.”
— Terry Swearingen
Funny Sustainability Quotes
“The most environmentally friendly product is the one you didn’t buy.”
— Joshua Becker
“Our life is frittered away by detail… simplify, simplify, simplify! Simplicity of life and elevation of purpose.”
— Henry Thoreau
“Until man duplicates a blade of grass, nature can laugh at his so-called scientific knowledge.”
— Thomas Edison
“All I want is to stand in a field and to smell green, to taste air, to feel the earth want me, without all this concrete hating me.”
— Phillip Pulfrey
“Sustainable Development is more than meeting the needs of today and future generations; to my understanding, this definition better fits the sex industry.”
— M.F. Moonzajer
“Nature provides a free lunch, but only if we control our appetites.”
— William Ruckelshaus
On Fashion
“As consumers, we have so much power to change the world by just being careful in what we buy”
— Emma Watson
“Fast fashion is like fast food. After the sugar rush, it just leaves a bad taste in your mouth”
— Livia Firth
“Fashion can be a universal player in protecting the planet”
— Simone Cipriani
“There is no beauty in the finest cloth if it makes hunger and unhappiness”
— Mahatma Gandhi
“Call it eco-fashion if you like, I think it’s just common sense”
— Livia Firth
“Ethical and sustainable fashion is not a product. It’s a practice everyone is invited to practice. There’s no obligation to buy. And you can get started right now. Today.”
— Elizabeth L. Cline
On Climate Justice
“We cannot solve the climate crisis without addressing the underlying systems of injustice and inequality. Sustainability is about justice for all.”
— Varshini Prakash
“We may be young, but our voices are powerful. Together, we can create a movement that demands sustainable change and holds leaders accountable.”
— Xiye Bastida
“We have a single mission: to protect and hand on the planet to the next generation.”
— François Hollande
“We live in a strange world, where we think we can buy or build our way out of a crisis that has been created by buying and building things… Where celebrities, film and pop stars who have stood up against all injustices will not stand up for our environment and for climate justice because that would inflict on their right to fly around the world visiting their favourite restaurants, beaches and yoga retreats.”
— Greta Thunberg, No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference
“21st Century choice: Look after our planet, and it will look after us, or don’t and face the consequences.”
— Phil Harding
“There is no question that climate change is happening; the only arguable point is what part humans are playing in it.”
— David Attenborough
“It angers me when sustainability gets used as a buzzword. For 90 percent of the world, sustainability is a matter of survival.”
— Cameron Sinclair
“In such an emergency as we are in right now, everyone needs to take their moral responsibility, at least I think so, and use whatever power they have, whatever platform they have, to try to influence and push in the right direction, to make a change. I think that’s our duty as human beings.”
— Greta Thunberg
“Today we are faced with a challenge that calls for a shift in our thinking, so that humanity stops threatening its life-support system. We are called to assist the Earth to heal her wounds and in the process heal our own — indeed to embrace the whole of creation in all its diversity, beauty and wonder. Recognizing that sustainable development, democracy and peace are indivisible is an idea whose time has come”
— Wangari Maathai
“We need not only open trading systems, but systems that work for people around the world — taking into account not only the bottom line, but the well-being of working men and women, the protection of children against sweatshop labor, and the protection of the environment.”
— Al Gore
More Sustainability Quotes
“The truth is: the natural world is changing. And we are totally dependent on that world. It provides our food, water, and air. It is the most precious thing we have and we need to defend it.”
— David Attenborough
“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”
— R. Buckminster Fuller
“We abuse the land because we regard it as a commodity, belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, then we may begin to use it with love and respect.”
— Aldo Leopold
“People ‘over-produce’ pollution because they are not paying for the costs of dealing with it.”
— Ha-Joon Chang
“We are at a unique stage in our history. Never before have we had such an awareness of what we are doing to the planet, and never before have we had the power to do something about that. Surely we all have a responsibility to care for our Blue Planet. The future of humanity and indeed, all life on earth, now depends on us.”
— David Attenborough
“We don’t inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children. It’s our responsibility to leave them a thriving planet.”
— Xiye Bastida
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