WWCD

In Japanese the words for thank you are “arigato gozaimasu”. But the conventional translation does not do justice to the underlying meaning embedded in the characters used to write the phrase. A literal translation would be “In this relative world of illusion and suffering, what you have done is very rare, I am before you as a humble goza mat.” This sense of gratitude is deeply ingrained in the Japanese concept of service and of what a customer is.

— from “The Ecology of Commerce”, by Paul Hawken

Gasoline is cheap in the United States because its price does not reflect the cost of smog, acid rain, and their subsequent effects on health and the environment. Likewise, American foods is the cheapest in the world, but the price does not reflect the fact that we have depleted the soil, reducing average topsoil from a depth of twenty-one to six inches over the past hundred years, contaminated our groundwater (farmers do not drink from wells in Iowa), and poisoned wildlife through the use of pesticides. When prices drop, effectively raising real income, people don’t need to think about waste, frugality, product life cycles, or product substitution. When prices rise, people have to reconsider usage patterns. This may be painful at first, but it generally results in innovation and creativity.

— from “The Ecology of Commerce”, by Paul Hawken

I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed. I feel at this moment more anxiety for the safety of my country than ever before, even in the midst of war.

— U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, Nov. 21, 1864