Derrick Jensen
Derrick Jensen
Derrick Jensenis an American author and radical environmentalistliving in Crescent City, California. According to Democracy Now!, Jensen "has been called the poet-philosopher of the ecological movement."...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionAuthor
Date of Birth19 December 1960
CountryUnited States of America
Derrick Jensen quotes about
civilization
Civilization is not and can never be sustainable.
thinking culture killing
I think a lot of us are increasingly recognizing that the dominant culture is killing the planet,
school people hated
As is true for most people I know, I've always loved learning. As is also true for most people I know, I always hated school. Why is that?
believe law justice
So long as we only believe in the justice of the state, of the law-made by those in power, to serve those in power-so long will we continue to be exploited by those in power.
dream civilization people
To reverse the effects of civilization would destroy the dreams of a lot of people. There's no way around it. We can talk all we want about sustainability, but there's a sense in which it doesn't matter that these people's dreams are based on, embedded in, intertwined with, and formed by an inherently destructive economic and social system. Their dreams are still their dreams. What right do I -- or does anyone else -- have to destroy them. At the same time, what right do they have to destroy the world?
disrespect arbitrary body
I no longer see Descartes' statement as arbitrary. It is representative of our culture's narcissism. This narcissism leads to a disturbing disrespect for direct experience and a negation of the body.
Learning has to come from doing, not intellectualizing.
morning writing blow
Every morning when I awake I ask myself whether I should write or blow up a dam. I tell myself I should keep writing, though I'm not sure that's right
mass-destruction hatred historical
If we hope to stem the mass destruction that inevitably attends our economic system (and to alter the sense of entitlement - the sense of contempt, the hatred - on which it is based), fundamental historical, social, economic, and technological forces need to be pondered, understood, and redirected. Behavior won't change much without a fundamental change in consciousness. The question becomes: How do we change consciousness?
marriage real party
a real partnership in which all parties help all others to be more fully themselves
civilization occupation culture
From the beginning, this culture - civilization - has been a culture of occupation.
hope agency degrees
When we realize the degree of agency we actually do have, we no longer have to "hope" at all. We simply do the work.
hope philosophy awful
Casey Maddox wrote that when philosophy dies, action begins. I would say in addition that when we stop hoping for external assistance, when we stop hoping that the awful situation we're in will somehow resolve itself, when we stop hoping the situation will somehow not get worse, then we are finally free - truly free - to honestly start working to thoroughly resolve it. I would say when hope dies, action begins.
eight important needs
Premise Eight: The needs of the natural world are more important than the needs of the economic system.