Quote:“Isn’t the only hope for the planet that the industrialized civilizations collapse? Isn’t it our responsiblity to bring that about?”
– Maurice Strong, founder of the UN Environment Programme
Opening speech, Rio Earth Summit. 1992
From my research the above quote appears to be bogus.
I found imbedded video footage of the opening speech here
http://www.americanalertnews.com/mauricestrongspeaks1992.htm American Alert appears to be a site dedicated to fighting Agenda 21 - However despite their own agenda and the video footage imbedded there, there is no mention of the supposed quote.
Here is the direct link to the full set of the "Earth Summit Opening Plenary" videos hosted by C-SPAN
http://www.c-span.org/search/?searchtype=All&query=Earth+Summit+Opening+PlenaryThere are a few seconds of Maurice Strong speaking at the very end of video part 1.
On video part 2 his opening remarks go for some 35 minutes or so. I have just finished listening to this and there is no above mentioned quote.
A transcript of the opening statement is available here
http://www.mauricestrong.net/index.php/opening-statement6 Also - an interesting run down of the possible origins of the supposed quote may be found at
https://denierlist.wordpress.com/2012/10/20/myths-tales-lies-quotes/And finally - Wiki quote gives us this :
Quote:What if a small group of world leaders were to conclude that the principal risk to the Earth comes from the actions of the rich countries? And if the world is to survive, those rich countries would have to sign an agreement reducing their impact on the environment. Will they do it? The group's conclusion is 'no'. The rich countries won't do it. They won't change. So, in order to save the planet, the group decides: Isn't the only hope for the planet that the industrialized civilizations collapse? Isn't it our responsibility to bring that about?
Maurice Strong, Interview 1992, concerning the plot of a book he would like to write[1]
1 ↑ Gibson, Donald. Environmentalism: ideology and power. pg. 95
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Maurice_Strong#cite_note-1So after all that, it seems (at best) the mostly misattributed quote may be merely a plot for a fictional book Maurice Strong had thought about writing. Although I can't confirm this as I don't have access to Donald Gibson's book.