- "The loss of biodiversity is the folly our descendants are least likely to forgive us."
Ð Edward O. Wilson, renowned biologist, named one of Time Magazine's "most influential people."
- "Most institutions start off fearing disaster, and need reassurance before they will consider going too far or too fast. I hope this decision, like training wheels, will give the WTO the confidence it needs to become still more democratic."
Ð Rob Housman, senior attorney with Center for International Environmental Law in Washington, in referring to the WTO decision to allow greater public access to official documents, said building more democratic institutions is a lot like riding a bike.
- "The Internet as a tool of democracy will play a more important role than all of the assistance for environmental protection and 'democratic education' coming from the Western countries to Eastern Europe and Poland."
Ð Maria Anna Jankowska, editor of the Electronic Green Journal, commenting in the June issue on environmental communication and her upcoming teaching assignment in Poland.
- "No force is more powerful than a committed local group in addressing environmental problems."
Ð Eileen Claussen, United States Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, in her address to the REC General Assembly.
- "We were astonished to find that the rate of the world's loss of biodiversity was worse than we had imagined. I think this is an indicator of the health of the world's ecosystems, and consequently of the state of our own health and that of our planet."
Ð Yolanda Kakabadse, newly-elected as President of IUCN at the World Conservation Congress in Montreal.
- "Risk assessment, when it is embedded within a decisionmaking process specifically aimed at determining how much damage is 'acceptable' and specifically NOT aimed at finding least-harmful solutions, is by its very nature a clandestine political manipulation of the citizenry."
Ð Peter Montague, National Writers Union, from an article in Rachel's Environment and Health Weekly Newsletter
