Our ability to perceive quality in nature begins, as in art, with the pretty. It expands through successive stages of the beautiful to values as yet uncaptured by language.
Aldo LeopoldRead
We have been quick to assume rights to use water but slow to recognize obligations to preserve and protect it... In short, we need a water ethic-a guide to right conduct in the face of complex decisions about natural systems we do not and cannot fully understand.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of recognizing our responsibilities towards water conservation as much as our rights to use it.
Sandra Postel's quote highlights a pressing issue regarding humanity's relationship with water resources. While people are often quick to claim their rights to utilize water for various purposes, they frequently overlook the corresponding responsibilities to safeguard and preserve this vital resource. Postel urges the need for a 'water ethic,' which would serve as a moral compass to guide decision-making in managing natural ecosystems that are inherently complex and not fully understood. This perspective calls for a balance between use and stewardship, emphasizing that ethical considerations must accompany our decisions about nature.
Themes
WaterEthicsConservationEnvironmentResponsibility
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a speech at a conservation conference to emphasize the ethical implications of water usage.
Similar quotes
Once a disease has entered the body, all parts which are healthy must fight it: not one alone, but all. Because a disease might mean their common death. Nature knows this; and Nature attacks the disease with whatever help she can muster.
ParacelsusRead
In the other gardens_x000D_ _x000D_ And all up the vale,_x000D_ _x000D_ From the autumn bonfies_x000D_ _x000D_ See the smoke trail!_x000D_ _x000D_ Pleasant summer over_x000D_ _x000D_ And all the summer flowers,_x000D_ _x000D_ The red fire blazes,_x000D_ _x000D_ the grey smoke towers._x000D_ _x000D_ Sing a song of seasons!_x000D_ _x000D_ Something bright in all,_x000D_ _x000D_ Flowers in the summer_x000D_ _x000D_ Fires in the fall!
Robert Louis StevensonRead
The real cure for our environmental problems is to understand that our job is to salvage Mother Nature. We are facing a formidable enemy in this field. It is the hunters... and to convince them to leave their guns on the wall is going to be very difficult.
Jacques Yves CousteauRead
The spring came suddenly, bursting upon the world as a child bursts into a room, with a laugh and a shout and hands full of flowers.
Henry Wadsworth LongfellowRead
My study of the wild gorilla is not yet finished, and even when it is complete, it will contribute only a small part toward man's understanding of his closest animal relatives, the great apes. But one conclusion is already clear: The gorilla is one of the most maligned animals in the world.
Dian FosseyRead