Reflective Mood

July 10th 2009
17:05

Another day in Kolda. Went around to my gardens. I've been in a
reflective mood lately. I found a quote by the Dalai Lama about growth
in population and poverty.

"The growth in population is very much bound up with poverty, and in
turn poverty plunders the earth. When human groups are dying of
hunger, they eat everything, grass, insects, everything. They cut down
trees, they leave the land dry and bare. All other concerns vanish.
That's why in the next thirty years the problems we call
'environmental' will be the hardest ones humanity will face."

It's a striking statement to me. It reminds me of a quote by John
Steward Mill- roughly that "Development is always subsidized by the
environment." Whether this sustainable development or maldevelopment,
the environment is always effected.

(Pg. 31, Violence and Compassion by The Dalai Lama, 1994)