May this continent, the last explored by humankind, be the first one to be spared by humankind.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of preserving our natural world, specifically highlighting the significance of the last explored continent.
Jacques Yves Cousteau's quote implores humanity to take a proactive stance in protecting the environment, particularly Antarctica, which is often seen as the final frontier of exploration. He suggests that instead of exploiting this untouched land, we should prioritize its conservation for future generations, recognizing its unique value and the necessity of environmental stewardship.
In practice
During a climate change conference, to emphasize the importance of protecting the environment.
We must alert and organise the world's people to pressure world leaders to take specific steps to solve the two root causes of our environmental crises - exploding population growth and wasteful consumption of irreplaceable resources. Overconsumption and overpopulation underlie every environmental problem we face today.
No aquarium, no tank in a marine land, however spacious it may be, can begin to duplicate the conditions of the sea. And no dolphin who inhabits one of those aquariums or one of those marine lands can be considered normal.
It's terrible to have to say this. World population must be stabilized and to do that we must eliminate 350,000 people per day. This is so horrible to contemplate that we shouldn't even say it. But the general situation in which we are involved is lamentable.
The impossible missions are the only ones which succeed.
The sea, the great unifier, is man's only hope. Now, as never before, the old phrase has a literal meaning: we are all in the same boat.
The best way to observe a fish is to become a fish.
To stand at the edge of the sea, to sense the ebb and flow of the tides, to feel the breath of a mist moving over a great salt marsh, to watch the flight of shore birds that have swept up and down the surf lines of the continents for untold thousands of years, to see the running of the old eels and the young shad to the sea, is to have knowledge of things that are as nearly eternal as any earthly life can be.
Men may dam it and say that they have made a lake, but it will still be a river. It will keep its nature and bide its time, like a caged animal alert for the slightest opening. In time, it will have its way; the dam, like the ancient cliffs, will be carried away piecemeal in the currents.
A sap run is the sweet goodbye of winter. It is the fruit of the equal marriage of the sun and frost.
What is the use of a house if you haven't got a tolerable planet to put it on?
The Cicada sing an endless song in the long grass, smells run along the earth and falling stars run over the sky, like tears over a cheek. You are the privileged person to whom everything is taken. The Kings of Tarshish shall bring gifts.
Perhaps nature is our best assurance of immortality.
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