"They have poisoned oceans and rivers and contaminated the air; they have weakened and opened holes in the ozone layer and saturated the atmosphere with gases that impair climate conditions with catastrophic effects that we are starting to feel".
Quotes
"(...) that everything that today contributes to underdevelopment and poverty is tantamount to a flagrant attack on the ecology".
"An important biological species is endangered due to the accelerated and progressive destruction of its natural living conditions: man".
"The tyranny of an order that imposes blind, anarchic and chaotic principles leading the human species toward an abyss must be stopped. Nature must be saved. National identities must be preserved. The culture of every country must be protected. Equality, fraternity and true liberty must prevail. The unfathomable gap between the rich and the poor countries, and within each country, must not continue to widen it must rather diminish until one day it ceases to exist. Let it be the merits, the ability, the creative spirit and what man can contribute to the well-being of humanity that determine their differences and not theft, speculation or the exploitation of the weaker. A humane spirit should truly be proclaimed, not with hypocritical words but with deeds."
"In the course of barely a century, a large part of the hydrocarbon reserves that nature took hundreds of millions of years to create have been burned and released into the air and the seas as gas and by-product waste. The quest to seek profits at any cost, with no ethical or moral principles or foresight whatsoever, has left a devastating wake for current and future generations".
"World politics and economics moved forward at such a blind and chaotic pace that concepts like the environment, biological diversity, the preservation of nature, dessertification, holes in the ozone layer and climatic changes were barely known or even mentioned a few decades ago. Under a system of anarchic and chaotic production, which eventually gave rise to the current state of imperial, hegemonic and unipolar control, enormous amounts of resources were squandered, nature was significantly damaged, and absurd and unsustainable models of consumption were established, which constitute really unattainable dreams for the immense majority of those who living on the planet today and those who will live on it tomorrow".
“The world’s population was several hundred million, a far cry from the 6.2 billion human beings who now inhabit the planet Earth, the vast majority of them living in the Third World where the deserts keep expanding, the soils are downgraded, the climate changes and harrowing poverty and disease have become a pervasive scourge”.
"The crisis will have an especially negative impact on the struggle for sustainable development, the preservation of the environment and the protection of nature from the merciless destruction to which it is being subjected, and which is causing the poisoning of the waters and the atmosphere, the destruction of the ozone layer, deforestation, desertification, and the extinction of animals and plants. How could this possibly not be taken into the slightest account?"
"Hardly 30 years ago, few people in the world discussed the environment. Ideas or themes linked to the destruction of the forests, soil erosion and salinity, climate change, the disappearing ozone layer, melting icecaps, whole cities and nations doomed to fatally disappear beneath the sea, polluted air and water; overexploited oceans seemed to be inventions of doomsday scientists and not pressing realities".
“Nature cannot be destroyed, and the rotten and wasteful consumer societies cannot prevail. There is a field where the production of wealth can be infinite: the field of knowledge, of culture and art in all its manifestations, including a painstaking ethical, esthetic and solidarity-based education, a full spiritual life, socially sound, mentally and physically healthy, without which it would be impossible to talk about quality of life.”
"(...) many things threatening the life of the planet today, aside from war, like climate changes, the destruction of the ozone layer, global warming, the poisoning of the air, the rivers and the seas. These things threaten the life of the entire planet, thus all of the peoples have a common cause with the people of Latin America, North America and Europe".
"Nothing is as devastating as the damage and destruction left behind by a hurricane. Hundreds of thousands of compatriots mobilize and work very hard during the passing of the hurricane and afterwards during the recovery stage. Reserves are reduced or depleted. Today, more than ever, the damages caused on food supplies are costly and significant. But this is our country; this is our rightful place in this planet, and we have to develop and defend it".