Brigham Young: "Never let anything go to waste. Be prudent...and what you get more than what you can take care of yourselves, ask your neighbors to help you consume. . . . Never consider that you have enough around you to suffer your children to waste a crumb of it. If a man is worth millions of bushels of wheat and corn, he is not wealthy enough to . . . sweep a single kernel of it into the fire; let it be eaten by something and pass again into the earth, and thus fulfill the purpose for which it grew. Remember it, do not waste anything, but take care of everything." Brigham Young, Discourses, 292.
"There are many who confuse prosperity with the power to waste. An oft-spoken rationale for waste is that if people own something, they are entitled to do with it as they pleased....Brigham Young offers a different perspective by reminding us that one can never have enough to be wasteful, that everything that was created was created for a purpose, and that we interfere with God's plan when we waste something that He created for a purpose."
"Brigham Young makes a clear connection between our stewardship over natural capital and over human capital. When we waste the resources provided for us by God, we harm our brothers and sisters. This principle is also emphasized in the 104th section of the Doctrine and Covenants: 'For the earth is full, and there is enough to spare; yea, I prepared all things, and have given unto the children of men to be agents unto themselves. Therefore, if any man shall take of the abundance which I have made, and impart not his portion, according to the law of my gospel, unto the poor and needy, he shall, with the wicked, lift up his eyes in hell, being in torment' (D&C 104:17–18)."
Excerpts from Donald L. Adolphson, “Environmental Stewardship and Economic Prosperity,” in Stewardship and the Creation: LDS Perspectives on the Environment, eds. George B. Handley, Terry B. Ball, and Steven L. Peck (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center), 2006.
NEVER LET ANYTHING GO TO WASTE. BE PRUDENT, AND WHAT YOU GET MORE THAN WHAT YOU CAN TAKE CARE OF YOURSELVES, ASK YOUR NEIGHBORS TO HELP YOU CONSUME. . . . NEVER CONSIDER THAT YOU HAVE ENOUGH AROUND YOU TO SUFFER YOUR CHILDREN TO WASTE...
Brigham Young