Don't just live the length of your life - live the width of it as well.
Diane AckermanRead
Nature is more like a seesaw than a crystal, a never-ending conga line of bold moves and corrections.
Interpretation
Nature is dynamic and constantly changing, just like a seesaw, rather than being static and unchanging like a crystal.
In this quote, Diane Ackerman illustrates the idea that nature is not a fixed entity but a fluid and ever-evolving system, likening it to a seesaw that requires constant adjustments and movements to maintain balance. This reflects the intricate interplay of forces in the environment and suggests that adaptability is key to understanding and engaging with the natural world.
In practice
This quote is perfect for an environmental awareness speech to highlight the importance of adaptability in nature.
Don't just live the length of your life - live the width of it as well.
We try to exile ourselves more and more from nature - not always consciously: We build houses; we dismiss nature; nature has to be outside, because we're inside. God forbid something like a cockroach comes inside, or some dust.
We ogle plants and animals up close on television, the Internet and in the movies. We may not worship the animals we see, but we still regard them as necessary physical and spiritual companions. Technological nature can't completely satisfy that yearning.
Because IQ tests favor memory skills and logic, overlooking artistic creativity, insight, resiliency, emotional reserves, sensory gifts, and life experience, they can't really predict success, let alone satisfaction.
American writer_x000D_ _x000D_ 1803-1882_x000D_ _x000D_ Play is our brain's favorite way of learning.
In rare moments of deep play, we can lay aside our sense of self, shed time's continuum, ignore pain, and sit quietly in the absolute present, watching the world's ordinary miracles. No mind or heart hobbles. No analyzing or explaining. No questing for logic. No promises. No goals. No relationships. No worry. One is completely open to whatever drama may unfold.
Summer in the deep South is not only a season, a climate, it's a dimension. Floating in it, one must be either proud or submerged.
I worry that more and more kids my age are growing up without experiencing the outdoors, which means that fewer will care about the natural world.
Measured against the Problem We Face, planting a garden sounds pretty benign, I know, but in fact itβs one of the most powerful things an individual can do - to reduce your carbon footprint, sure, but more important, to reduce your sense of dependence and dividedness: to change the cheap-energy mind.
In Kenya women are the first victims of environmental degradation, because they are the ones who walk for hours looking for water, who fetch firewood, who provide food for their families.
A soft Sea washed around the House A Sea of Summer Air And rose and fell the magic Planks That sailed without a care β For Captain was the Butterfly For Helmsman was the Bee And an entire universe For the delighted crew.
As a kid, I was going to be a marine biologist or an actor. When I became successful as an actor, I said, 'Well, maybe I can lend a voice to this with an equal passion.' You realize how lucky we are and how destructive we've been and what little regard we have for the natural world.
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