“That is the onslaught. It has been going on a long time, I argue, but in the 20th century humans have certainly perfected it, extending domination to every single corner of the earth and our Homo sapiens population to more than 6 billion - until no place is untouched by despoliation.” HumansLongHas BeensEarthCenturyLong TimePopulationCornersArguingBillions20th CenturyDominationHomo SapiensExtending Author:Kirkpatrick Sale
“That is certainly the point: when the human species was born, on the African savanna, life was pretty good; we could live in harmony with the rest of nature, and that's what I've been calling Eden. The only technologies that humans devised for some 2 million years were fire and the hand ax. That's all. Eden didn't need anything more” NeedsYearsHumansHandsBornMillionsTechnologyFireCallingHarmonySpeciesEdenHuman SpeciesSavanna Author:Kirkpatrick Sale
“And it was only when we invented the spear and began roaming the planet that technologies got complex and central to human survival.” HumansTechnologyPlanetsSurvivalComplexesSpearsRoaming Author:Kirkpatrick Sale
“So the technology that does the least alteration of nature, the least harm to other species and systems, and provides the greatest intimacy of human with nature, is the best. We could make a scale with that in mind, and judge any technology by its place on that scale: speech and eyeglasses, say, would rank low; nuclear bombs and coal plants, high.” MindHumansDoeTechnologyJudgingSpeechLowsPlantSpeciesHarmNuclearScalesIntimacyBombsCoalAlterationsNuclear BombEyeglasses Author:Kirkpatrick Sale
“When I speak of knowledge of nature, I do not mean industrial science, which argues that nature is inert and can be understood only to enable humans to manipulate it. I mean that sense of nature that Aldo Leopold had in mind when he said, "A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community, wrong when it tends otherwise.” MindHumansMeanSaidSpeakCommunityIntegrityUnderstoodArguingPreservesStabilityManipulate Author:Kirkpatrick Sale
