“When we mistake what we can know for all there is to know, a healthy appreciation of one's ignorance in the face of a mystery like soil fertility gives way to the hubris that we can treat nature as a machine. Once that leap has been made, one input follows another, so that when the synthetic nitrogen fed to plants makes them more attractive to insects and vulnerable to disease, as we have discovered, the farmer turns to chemical pesticides to fix his broken machine.” KnowsWayGivingHas BeensMadeFacesTurnsMistakeMysteryLandIgnoranceBrokenHealthyDiseaseMachinesTreatsPlantAppreciationVulnerableAttractiveSoilFedsLeapChemicalsFarmersInsectsInputHubrisFertilitySyntheticPesticidesNitrogen Author:Michael Pollan
“The mortal enemies of man are not his fellows of another continent or race; they are the aspects of the physical world which limit or challenge his control, the disease germs that attack him and his domesticated plants and animals, and the insects that carry many of these germs as well as working notable direct injury. This is not the age of man, however great his superiority in size and intelligence; it is literally the age of insects.” MenWorldWellsAgeChallengesAnimalRaceEnemyLimitsDiseaseAspectDirectFellowsPlantSizeMortalsInjuryContinentsSuperiorityInsectsNotableGermsPlants And AnimalsMortal EnemiesDomesticated Animals Author:Warder Clyde Allee
“When harvests are exuberant, joy and health follow in their train; but let delusive prosperity draw industry from agriculture; let an insiduous disease attack one of its important products; let an insect, or a parasite, fasten on a single esculent, and mark the effect upon commerce and human life. Upon such an event all business is deranged.” HumansImportantJoyEffectsEventsProductsIndustryDiseaseDrawsMarkTrainProsperityHuman LifeCommerceAgricultureHarvestInsectsParasitesDeranged Author:Elias Hasket Derby
“Insects leave (Madagascar periwinkle) Catharanthus roseus out of their diets. So, for that matter, do deer. The reason is that the plants are loaded with alkaloids so potent that they are the source of vincristine and vinblastine. These are drugs important in routines of chemotherapy for treating Hodgkin's disease and certain forms of leukemia.” ImportantMatterReasonFormCertainSourceDrugDiseasePlantDietsInsectsLoadedDeerChemotherapyLeukemiaMadagascarPeriwinkle Author:Allen Lacy
“The only sensible approach to disease and insect control, I think, is to grow sturdy crops in a healthy environment.” ThinkingGrowsEnvironmentHealthyDiseaseApproachSensibleInsectsCropsSturdyHealthy Environment Author:Masanobu Fukuoka
“Since I turned the fields back to their natural state, I can't say I've had any really difficult problems with insects or disease.” I CanStatesProblemDifficultNaturalFieldsDiseaseInsectsDifficult Problems Author:Masanobu Fukuoka
“And people who believe in God think God has put human beings on earth because they think human beings are the best animal, but human beings are just an animal and they will evolve into another animal, and that animal will be cleverer and it will put human beings into a zoo, like we put chimpanzees and gorillas into a zoo. Or human beings will all catch a disease and die out or they will make too much pollution and kill themselves, and then there will only be insects in the world and they will be the best animal.” PeopleThinkingWorldBelieveHumansEarthDiesHuman BeingsAnimalToo MuchDiseaseEvolveBeing The BestBelieve In GodPollutionInsectsZoosChimpanzeesGorillas Author:Mark Haddon
“A tree may look as beautiful as ever; but when you notice the insects infesting it, and the tips of the branches that are brown from disease, even the trunk seems to lose some of its magnificence.” LooksMaySeemsBeautifulLosesTreeDiseaseBranchesBrownInsectsTrunksMagnificenceGeisha Author:Arthur Golden