I'm actually getting to the stage where places I travelled to for the first time in the early 1990s are now unrecognisable. I go to coral reefs that I went to ten years ago when they were swarming with fish and sharks, and now they are barren deserts.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the drastic changes in natural environments over time.
Steve Backshall highlights the alarming transformation of coral reefs he visited in the past, emphasizing that places once teeming with marine life have now become desolate. This observation serves as a poignant reminder of environmental degradation and the urgent need for conservation efforts to protect our planet's biodiversity.
In practice
This quote could be used in a documentary about climate change.
To a naturalist nothing is indifferent; the humble moss that creeps upon the stone is equally interesting as the lofty pine which so beautifully adorns the valley or the mountain: but to a naturalist who is reading in the face of the rocks the annals of a former world, the mossy covering which obstructs his view, and renders indistinguishable the different species of stone, is no less than a serious subject of regret.
The lark that shuns on lofty boughs to build, Her humble nest, lies silent in the field.
We are blessed with a magnificent and miraculous world ocean on this planet. But we are also stressing it in ways that we are not even close to bringing under control.
We can hold back neither the coming of the flowers nor the downward rush of the stream; sooner or later, everything comes to its fruition.
I sleep with my feet on moss carpets, my branches in the cotton of the clouds.
We need to be realistic. There is very little we can do now to stop the ice from disappearing from the North Pole in the summer. And we probably cannot prevent the melting of the permafrost and the resulting release of methane. In addition, I fear that we may be too late to help the oceans maintain their ability to absorb carbon dioxide.
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