“Only within the 20th Century has biological thought been focused on ecology, or the relation of the living creature to its environment. Awareness of ecological relationships is - or should be - the basis of modern conservation programs, for it is useless to attempt to preserve a living species unless the kind of land or water it requires is also preserved. So delicately interwoven are the relationships that when we disturb one thread of the community fabric we alter it all - perhaps almost imperceptibly, perhaps so drastically that destruction follows.” ShouldKindWaterCommunityEnvironmentModernLandCenturyAwarenessCreaturesProgramDestructionBasesRelationSpeciesFocusedUselessPreservesThreadFabricEcologyConservation20th CenturyEcologicalLiving Creatures Author:Rachel Carson
“The classical argument for why a supposedly decent and moral creature like Homo sapiens can mistreat and even extirpate other species rests upon an extreme position in a continuum. The Cartesian tradition, formulated explicitly in the seventeenth century, but developed in "folk" and other versions throughout human history no doubt, holds that other animals are little more than unfeeling machines, with only humans enjoying "consciousness," however defined.” HumansLittlesEnjoyAnimalConsciousnessMoralDoubtCenturyPositionCreaturesArgumentTraditionMachinesSpeciesFolksExtremesVersionsDefinedDecentNo DoubtHuman HistoryHomo SapiensContinuumUnfeelingMistreat Author:Stephen Jay Gould
“The 20th century mind is nostalgic for the paradise that once existed on the mushroom dotted plains of Africa where the plant-human symbiosis occurred that pulled us out of the animal body and into the tool-using, culture-making, imagination-exploring creature that we are. And why does this matter? It matters because it shows that the way out is back and that the future is a forward escape into the past. This is what the psychedelic experience means. Its a doorway out of history and into the wiring under the board in eternity.” WayMindHumansMeanDoeMatterShowsBodyPastCultureImaginationAnimalCenturyCreaturesToolsEternityPlantBoardsParadiseExploring20th CenturyPsychedelicDoorwaysNostalgicMushroomsPsychedelic ExperienceWiringSymbiosis Author:Terence McKenna
“IT is an astonishing thing that historians will look back and puzzle over, that in the 21st century, American women were such hunted creatures. Even as Republicans try to wrestle women into chastity belts, the Vatican is trying to muzzle American nuns.” TryingLooksCenturyRepublicanCreaturesHistorian21st CenturyPuzzlesBeltsAstonishingChastityNunAmerican WomanHuntedMuzzle Author:Maureen Dowd
“The old dead trees are the most fascinating - the countless trees lying in the gullies and up the hills that fell perhaps a century ago, pulling up their roots from the earth as they toppled. The great upheavals left rocks in their huge tentacles and, as they slowly rot, the trunks are home to populations of creatures, from goannas to wild pigs. As grey as tombstones in a cemetery they lie there, having outlasted generations of farmers, as they'll outlast me. In their own way they are as beautiful, more beautiful, than living trees.” WayHomeEarthBeautifulLyingLeftBeautyGenerationsTreeRocksCenturyHugeCreaturesRootsPopulationHillsFascinatingFarmersPigsPullingGreyCemeteryTrunksTombstoneUpheavalFloraTentaclesDead Trees Author:Phillip Adams
“It was a different social structure. I'd go to [David] Bailey's for dinner at 10:30. There were always girls there and a house full of . . . I don't know, anybody. Cecil Beaton, Diana Cooper . . . And there I am sitting down with these creatures of the 20th century, and it was normal to us.” KnowsDifferentGirlHouseSocialCenturyCreaturesNormalSittingStructureDinner20th CenturySitting DownDianaSocial Structure Author:Manolo Blahnik