• For too long we have tried to consume our way to prosperity. Look at the cost: polluted lands and oceans, climate change, growing scarcity of resources from food to land to fresh water, rampant inequality. We need to invent a new model; a model that offers growth and social inclusion... that is more respectful of the planet's finite resources. Nature has been kind to human beings, but we have not been kind to nature.

    Ban Ki-moon: For too long we have tried to consume our 
 way to prosperity. Look at the cost: polluted 
 lands and oceans, climate change, growing 
 scarcity of resources from food to land to fresh 
 water, rampant inequality. We need to invent a 
 new model; a model that offers growth and social inclusion... that is more respectful of the 
 planet's finite resources. Nature has been kind 
 to human beings, but we have not been kind to 
 nature.
    Ban Ki-moon's Press Conference on Rio+20, www.un.org. June 6, 2012.