A biography for Barry Commonerhasn’t been written yet.
“The age of innocent faith in science and technology may be over.”
“No action is without its side effects.”
“The first law of ecology is that everything is related to everything else.”
“In every case, the environmental hazards were made known only by independent scientists, who were often bitterly opposed by the corporations responsible for the hazards.”
“If you can see the light at the end of the tunnel, you are looking the wrong way.”
“The environmental crisis arises from a fundamental fault: our systems of production - in industry, agriculture, energy and transportation - essential as they are, make people sick and die.”
“What I have experienced over time is that environmental problems are easier to deal with in ways that don't go into their interconnections to the rest of what we are.”
“It is simply economically impossible to require controls that even approach zero emissions.”
“The major source of photochemical smog - petroleum-fueled vehicles - can be replaced by emission-free electric vehicles.”
“I don't believe in environmentalism as the solution to anything. What I believe is that environmentalism illuminates the things that need to be done to solve all of the problems together.”
“As the earth spins through space, a view from above the North Pole would encompass most of the wealth of the world - most of its food, productive machines, doctors, engineers and teachers. A view from the opposite pole would encompass most of the world's poor.”
“It reflects a prevailing myth that production technology is no more amenable to human judgment or social interests than the laws of thermodynamics, atomic structure or biological inheritance.”
“The most meaningful engine of change, powerful enough to confront corporate power, may be not so much environmental quality, as the economic development and growth associated with the effort to improve it.”
“The modern assault on the environment began about 50 years ago, during and immediately after World War II.”
“World War II had a very important impact on the development of technology, as a whole.”
“By adopting the control strategy, the nation's environmental program has created a built-in antagonism between environmental quality and economic growth.”
“What is new is that environmentalism intensely illuminates the need to confront the corporate domain at its most powerful and guarded point - the exclusive right to govern the systems of production.”
“What is needed now is a transformation of the major systems of production more profound than even the sweeping post-World War II changes in production technology.”
“Environmental pollution is an incurable disease. It can only be prevented.”
“I see no reason to have my shirts ironed. It's irrational.”