We can have technology, prosperity, nice homes and cars, but at the same time we must be conscious of what we are dumping into the water, the air and our food.

The quote juxtaposes modern comfort—technology, wealth, and consumer goods—with the often-hidden environmental costs that accompany them. Richardson’s point is not anti-progress so much as pro-accountability: material prosperity becomes ethically incomplete if it is purchased by polluting shared essentials like water, air, and the food chain. The phrasing “must be conscious” frames environmental stewardship as a matter of awareness and responsibility rather than mere policy preference. Implicitly, it critiques a culture that externalizes harm (toxins, waste, emissions) while celebrating visible markers of success, urging a more holistic definition of progress that includes ecological and public-health consequences.