Quotessence
Home / Authors / Annalee Newitz
Annalee Newitz

Annalee Newitz Quotes

Journalist

Filter quotes by topic

AllThinkingHumansWorldIfsPeopleEarthNaturalYearsEcosystemsEnvironment

Famous Annalee Newitz Quotes

“There are definitely recurring themes in humanity's relationship with our environment. The biggest is probably adaptation, because humans are incredibly good at adapting to new environments in relatively short periods of time. The ancestors of Homo sapiens started leaving Africa over one million years ago, moving from warm, tropical climates into the freezing wilderness of Europe and the desert ecosystems of the Middle East.”

YearsHumansMovingHumanityMillionsEnvironmentMiddlePeriodsEuropeYears AgoClimateLeavingWarmEastDesertThemeWildernessAncestorMiddle EastAdaptationOur EnvironmentHomo SapiensEcosystemsAdaptingFreezingTropicalRecurringNew EnvironmentRecurring Themes
Author:Annalee Newitz
Create image

“Some time ago we discovered the carbon cycle - a long-term set of chemical reactions that govern climates based on how much carbon is free in the atmosphere. At that point, it became clear that humans were affecting our environments far more profoundly than we realized. By releasing so much carbon and greenhouse gas into the environment, we're making long-term changes to every aspect of the natural world.”

WorldHumansLongTermNaturalClearEnvironmentAspectClimateReactionsAtmosphereLong TermGasCyclesChemicalsCarbonNatural WorldOur EnvironmentGreenhousesGreenhouse GasesChemical ReactionsCarbon Cycle
Author:Annalee Newitz
Create image

“It's only been in the past two generations that we truly understood the impact our civilization has had on the natural world. To our credit as a species, we have turned this obscure scientific fact about carbon cycles into one of the most important political issues of the 21st century.”

WorldTwoImportantFactsPastPoliticalNaturalIssuesGenerationsCenturyCivilizationUnderstoodImpactSpeciesCreditCyclesCarbon21st CenturyObscureNatural WorldScientific FactsPolitical IssuesCarbon Cycle
Author:Annalee Newitz
Create image

“I don't know if most people have truly taken on board what this says about our place in the natural world. It doesn't mean that humans are dominating the Earth, ruling over all of nature. In fact, it is a reminder that we are only a tiny part of nature, at the mercy of a system whose operations predate us by billions of years, and will continue billions of years after we're gone.”

PeopleIfsKnowsWorldYearsHumansMeanFactsEarthNaturalGoneTakenMercyBillionsTinyOperationsBoardsRulingRemindersNatural WorldDominating
Author:Annalee Newitz
Create image

“With enough money and international coordination, we can push incoming asteroids out of Earth's path. We might even be able to bring back extinct animals in the lab. The problem really isn't scientific - it's cultural. We aren't yet able to coordinate ourselves as a global civilization to do something simple like bring food to a famine-stricken region. We can actually use current satellite technologies to predict where famine will strike next, but we can't get food there - usually for political reasons.”

ReasonEnoughUseProblemMightAbleEarthPoliticalNextSimpleAnimalTechnologyPathCivilizationInternationalCurrentsStrikesRegionsFamineLabsSatellitesAsteroidsCoordinationCoordinatesExtinct Animals
Author:Annalee Newitz
Create image

“My first goal would be to reduce the perturbation in the carbon cycle. That would mean using carbon neutral sources of energy, and changing our agricultural practices to be less disruptive and polluting. I'm not talking about a policy here so much as changing the way our infrastructure works. That's why I'm so fascinated with changing the way we build cities, because they are the most developed forms of physical infrastructure for human habitation.”

WayFirstsHumansMeanWould BeFormEnergyGoalCitiesTalkingPracticePolicySourceCyclesFascinatedCarbonInfrastructureNot TalkingDisruptiveCarbon Cycle
Author:Annalee Newitz
Create image

“Cities should function more like ecosystems, or even metabolisms. When we build, we should be thinking about how we can integrate into the ecosystems around us, but without sacrificing all the niceties of civilization like good restaurants, concert halls, and high-speed Internet access. I'm saying that partly tongue-in-cheek, but I'm also deadly serious. The future of technology is sustainable ecology.”

ThinkingShouldCitiesTechnologySacrificeSeriousInternetCivilizationFunctionTongueSpeedAccessRestaurantsHallsConcertsCheeksEcologyIntegratingEcosystemsHigh SpeedMetabolismNicetiesTongue In CheekInternet Access
Author:Annalee Newitz
Create image

“The fact is that humans have been shaping the genetics of what they eat for thousands of years. Genetic engineering simply speeds up the process that used to take generations. Preventing people from getting things like golden rice or disease-resistant cassava destroys human life, and does not spare the environment in any way.”

PeopleWayYearsHumansDoeHas BeensFactsUsedProcessEnvironmentGenerationsDiseaseSpeedGoldenHuman LifeEngineeringSparesRiceGeneticsPreventingGenetic Engineering
Author:Annalee Newitz
Create image

“A lot of environmental and biological science depends on technology to progress. Partly I'm talking about massive server farms that help people crunch genetic data - or atmospheric data. But I also mean the scientific collaborations that the Internet makes possible, where scientists in India and Africa can work with people in Europe and the Americas to come up with solutions to what are, after all, global problems.”

PeopleMeanHelpingProblemTalkingTechnologyProgressDependsInternetSolutionsEuropeScientistIndiaEnvironmentalCome UpDataMassiveFarmsCollaborationServerCrunchBiological Science
Author:Annalee Newitz
Create image

“To be fair, if we are having a mass extinction, we're in the early stages of it. I think it's knowing facts like that which has made me less fearful about the future. Mass extinction is a long, complicated process that we are just now beginning to understand - and likewise, we are just beginning to understand how we might prevent one.”

IfsThinkingLongMadeFactsMightProcessKnowingStageMassFairsComplicatedFearfulExtinctionMass Extinction
Author:Annalee Newitz
Create image

“In fact, the early demographer Thomas Malthus believes that the only way the human population would ever check itself was by running headlong into a disaster, like a pandemic or famine. Sometimes we get so frustrated with the slowness of human political processes that we wish a giant flaming rock would solve the problem for us.”

WayBelieveHumansSometimesFactsProblemRunningPoliticalWishProcessRocksPopulationSolveDisasterChecksGiantsFrustratedFamineSlownessPandemicsHuman PopulationMalthus
Author:Annalee Newitz
Create image

“The early Triassic was a period when the planet was recovering from the worst mass extinction it had ever known - that was the end Permian extinction, where climate change caused in part by mega-volcanic eruptions wiped out ninety-five percent of life on Earth. It took about ten or twenty million years for the planet's ecosystems to stabilize. During that time you saw a lot of weird, out-of-balance ecosystems where, for example, crocodile-like predators ripped the crap out of each other along the coasts.”

YearsEndsEarthKnownMillionsFiveSawsWorstExamplePlanetsBalancePeriodsTenMassPercentTwentiesClimateClimate ChangeCrapCoastNinetyExtinctionEcosystemsPredatorRippedRecoveringCrocodilesEruptionMegaMass ExtinctionVolcanic Eruptions
Author:Annalee Newitz
Create image

“Amphibians are dying out like crazy, and frogs and salamanders may be largely extinct by the end of the twenty-first century. Imagine an animal that begins its life in the water, but ends it on land - already, that's pretty weird. But, also, a lot of them are incredibly tiny and look wildly improbable. They have funny little toes, they stretch their throats into weird bubble shapes when they croak, and some of them are poisonous to the touch. I think kids from the twenty-second century might mythologize amphibians the way kids today mythologize dinosaurs.”

ThinkingWayFirstsLooksMayLittlesEndsMightKidsTodayWaterAnimalImagineCrazyLandCenturyDyingShapesTwentiesTinyHaving FunThroatBubblesToesFrogsDinosaursImprobablePoisonousAmphibiansSalamanders
Author:Annalee Newitz
Create image

“I think that humans are also set up to survive. We're not as small as rats, but we make up for that by being intelligent enough to make our own hiding places and to adapt to new habitats, even if they are changing very quickly. We have an enormous population, and can afford to lose billions of people without suffering very much as a species. Indeed, some would say losing five billion people would be good for the planet - I disagree with them, but can't deny that we would do just fine if there were two billion of us or even one billion.”

PeopleIfsThinkingHumansTwoEnoughWould BeSufferingLosesFivePlanetsFineLosingIntelligentSpeciesPopulationDenyBe GoodBillionsEnormousHidingDisagreeRatsHabitatHiding Place
Author:Annalee Newitz
Create image

“Imagining the world without us is a recipe for despair and paralysis. I actually think it's more helpful to imagine the world before us, to look back at those unstable ecosystems of the Triassic and realize that were in another phase of unstable ecosystems. Knowing that, demystifying our situation as it were, makes it easier to think about solutions. We are not looking into the unknown. The only thing unknown about the situation is how we're going to fix it, and when.”

ThinkingWorldLooksRealizingSituationKnowingImagineEasierDespairSolutionsHelpfulPhasesRecipesEcosystemsUnstableParalysis
Author:Annalee Newitz
Create image

“We are headed to a radically new Earth, at least from our perspective. But from the planet's perspective, this is nothing new. As the geologist Peter Ward is fond of pointing out, we are actually heading back to a time kind of like the Miocene. The Miocene ended about 5.5 million years ago, and it was the last time that the planet had no icecaps.”

YearsKindEarthLastsMillionsPlanetsPerspectiveYears AgoPeterLast TimePointingHeadingsNothing NewNew EarthGeologist
Author:Annalee Newitz
Create image

“If we return abruptly to a Miocene-like climate, it's reasonable to think that we would experience a lot of extinctions, and maybe even a mass extinction in the long term. Would the life on Earth be radically different? Of course we can't say for sure, but I think a lot of it would look familiar. Like a lot of people, I worry a lot about whether marine mammals would survive, especially whales. Ocean acidification is one of the major killers in climate change events, and that makes the ocean a very inhospitable place.”

PeopleIfsThinkingLooksLongDifferentEarthCoursesTermWorryEventsReturnOceanMajorsMassClimateClimate ChangeFamiliarLong TermReasonableKillersMarineExtinctionWhalesMammalsMass ExtinctionOcean Acidification
Author:Annalee Newitz
Create image