Angel by the River by Gus Speth : Environmental Issues + Job and Education today

What Gus Speth has pointed out is absolutely true - The root cause of all problems, including environmental, (and the solution lies in) cultivating compassion, empathy, cultural transformation, civic sense, etc. A change of mindset of people is the need of the hour.

James Gustave Speth an American environmental lawyer and advocate in Living on Earth – Gus Speth calls for a New Environmentalism. First aired on February 13, 2015. In conversation with host Steve Curwood, NRDC co-founder Gus Speth reflects on the environmental movement both as a previous ‘insider’ and now as a reformer. In his new memoir “Angels by the River” Gus Speth calls for deeper challenges to the economic status quo, and explores his life and career at the nexus of race, environment and politics.

“I used to think that top environmental problems were biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and climate change. I thought that thirty years of good science could address these problems. I was wrong. The top environmental problems are selfishness, greed and apathy, and to deal with these we need a cultural and spiritual transformation. And we scientists don’t know how to do that.”

Environmental system includes - strengthen economic, political and social security - which can be strengthened with strong laws, powerful system and ethics. This can happen with radical leadership. So it is no more confined to Air, Water, or Sound pollution. Need to save democracy, which have a huge say in the investments. Give priority to people and planet and not profit.

Some more interesting quotes from Gus Speth are:


This describes the plight of our society aptly, why Schools and colleges are no more important in India.... People need to follow and be Sadhus and Swami's or politics...well the crowd follow the leader right....

People with high mark take science, and go for B.Tech
Next Commerce, do MBA
Next take Arts do IAS
Just basic school be politicians and
those with no education becomes Sadhu and

Once in job the reporting is in reverse order: - Engineering graduates, report to MBA's, they work under IAS - all of whom are governed by the politicians; and everyone in turn go to the Sadhu's for blessings.


Once in job:

People leave in 6 months - Employers want at least 3 years retainer ship.

They must understand that the world of Business has seen 3 revolution:

Industrial revolution - Even if boss abused people stuck, boss was always right, Survival had to be taken care of - Our parents age
Information revolution - went to work for Standard of living, had options for better jobs - This included people of - Our age
Digital/Social revolution - Survival and Standard of life is taken care of - Today people look for quality of life, work place, job, environment, role, opportunity, learning and reward. - Since 2008