Like all animals, human beings have always taken what they want from nature. But we are the rogue species. We are unique in our ability to use resources on a scale and at a speed that our fellow species can't.
Interpretation
Humans exploit natural resources more intensively and rapidly than other species.
This quote highlights the distinctive nature of humans as a species that not only utilizes natural resources but does so at an unparalleled scale and speed. Unlike other animals, humans have developed the technology and social structures necessary to exploit the environment in ways that can be both innovative and destructive, raising important questions about sustainability and our responsibility towards nature.
In practice
In a discussion about climate change, this quote can emphasize our responsibility towards natural resources.
Water, like many other resources, is harvested, transported and used throughout all aspects of society. Unlike other resources, water is critical to the survival of all forms of life. The underlying question that sits at the core of my exploration is to what degree can we shape water before it begins to shape us.
As artists, we can help, visually and intellectually, to make people understand that, at some point, we have to accept that it is our collective impact that is putting the whole planet in jeopardy.
Our planetary system is affected by a magnitude of force as powerful as any naturally occurring global catastrophe, but one caused solely by a single species: us.
When you see the natural and almost universal craving in English sick for their 'tea,' you cannot but feel that nature knows what she is about. ... A little tea or coffee restores them. ... There is nothing yet discovered which is a substitute to the English patient for his cup of tea.
Come to the sunset tree! The day is past and gone; The woodman's axe lies free, And the reaper's work is done.
It is the sweetest spring within the memory of man. So green, so mild, so beautiful! Ah, what a contrast between nature without and my own soul so torn with doubt and terror!
To a dull mind all of nature is leaden. To the illumined mind the whole world burns and sparkles with light.
The wilderness does not make you forget your normal life so much as it removes the distractions for proper remembering.
The trees encountered on a country stroll Reveal a lot about that country's soul ... A culture is no better than its woods.
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