The Everglades is a test. If we pass it, we may get to keep the planet.
Marjory Stoneman DouglasRead
Whoever wants me to talk, I'll come over and tell them about the necessity of preserving the Everglades.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of discussing and advocating for the preservation of natural environments like the Everglades.
Marjory Stoneman Douglas highlights her willingness to engage in conversation about the critical need to conserve the Everglades, showcasing her dedication to environmental advocacy. The quote reflects the broader notion that awareness and dialogue are essential steps in fostering appreciation and action to protect vital ecosystems.
In practice
During an environmental forum, I would quote this to emphasize the need for ecosystem preservation.
The Everglades is a test. If we pass it, we may get to keep the planet.
Life should be lived so vividly and so intensely that thoughts of another life, or of a longer life, are not necessary.
The wealth of south Florida, but even more important, the meaning and significance of south Florida lies in the black muck of the Everglades and the inevitable development of this country to be the great tropic agricultural center of the world.
To be a friend of the Everglades is not necessarily to spend time wandering around out there.
The hardest thing is to tell the truth about oneself. One doesn't like to remember unpleasant details, but forgetting them makes one's life seem disorganized.
Conservation is now a dead word.
I describe myself as an environmentalist not because I'm marching in the street with placards but because I like to be in the woods by myself.
The horse could not do without Manhattan. It drew him like a magnet, like a vacuum, like oats, or a mare, or an open, never-ending, tree-lined road.
There is a way of beholding nature which is a form of prayer, a way of minding something with such clarity and aliveness that the rest of the world recedes. It . . . gives the brain a small vacation.
The world is holy. We are holy. All life is holy. Daily prayers are delivered on the lips of breaking waves, the whisperings of grasses, the shimmering of leaves.
What if you have seen it before, ten thousand times over? An apple tree in full blossom is like a message, sent fresh from heaven to earth, of purity and beauty.
The river and the garden have been the foundations of my economy here. Of the two I have liked the river best. It is wonderful to have the duty of being on the river the first and last thing every day. I have loved it even in the rain. Sometimes I have loved it most in the rain.
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