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.
Carl SafinaRead
[About reading Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, age 14, in the back seat of his parents' sedan. I almost threw up. I got physically ill when I learned that ospreys and peregrine falcons weren't raising chicks because of what people were spraying on bugs at their farms and lawns. This was the first time I learned that humans could impact the environment with chemicals. [That a corporation would create a product that didn't operate as advertised] was shocking in a way we weren't inured to.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects a realization of the harmful impact humans have on the environment through chemical use.
In this quote, Carl Safina shares a pivotal moment from his childhood when he learned about the negative effects of pesticides on wildlife, particularly on ospreys and peregrine falcons. This early encounter not only made him physically ill but also opened his eyes to the broader implications of human actions on nature, particularly how corporate practices may lead to environmental harm, a realization that was surprising to him at the time.
Themes
EnvironmentChemicalsImpactWildlifePesticides
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about environmental conservation, I highlighted this quote to emphasize the responsibility we have in protecting wildlife.
More from Carl Safina
All quotes →Whether on'e special emphasis is global warming or child welfare, the cause is the same cause. And justice comes from the same place being human comes from: compassion.
Carl SafinaRead
Maybe we’ll live to see sharks recover. Right now, that seems as improbable as seeing all these falcons. Hope is the ability to see how things could be better. The world of human affairs has long been a shadowy place, but always backlit by the light of hope. Each person can add hope to the world. A resigned person subtracts hope. The more people strive, the more change becomes likely.
Carl SafinaRead
The compass of compassion asks not what is good for me? but what is good? Not what is best for me but what is best. Not what is right for me but what is right. Not how much can we take? but How much ought we leave? and how much might we give? Not what is easy but what is worthy. Not what is practical but what is moral.
Carl SafinaRead
Economists don't seem to have noticed that the economy sits entirely within the ecology.
Carl SafinaRead
A painting is nothing more than light reflected from the surface of a pigment-covered canvas. But a great painter can make you see the depth, make you feel the underlying emotion, make you sense the larger world. That, too, is the power of science: to sense and convey the depth and dimensionality of nature, to glance at the surface and to divine the shape of the universe around us.
Carl SafinaRead
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