“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
“If you have appreciation for life, whether it is a planet or any wild species, if it's a human or an elephant, death is really bad for all of us to adjust to. We are all going to die. When it happens in such a drastic, inhuman way, which we've been seeing in Africa, this is crime on its highest level.” IfsWayHumansHappensDiesLevelsSeeingCrimePlanetsHighestSpeciesAppreciationElephantsInhumanDrastic Author:Veronika Varekova
“I had nixed the idea of having children when I was myself a child, having learned in the 1960s that human overpopulation was literally crowding other species off the planet. Why create another mouth to gnaw at the overburdened earth?” HumansChildrenIdeasEarthNatureAnimalPlanetsMouthsSpecies1960sHaving ChildrenOverpopulationAnimals In Nature Author:Sy Montgomery
“As far as we know, as a species, the only reason we were put on this planet is to help continue life.” KnowsReasonHelpingPlanetsSpecies Author:Allen Evangelista
“It is a fact that the ecological devastation of the planet can be traced to the consumption of meat and dairy, which contributes to water, soil, and air pollution as well as global warming and the mass extinction of many species of plant and animal forms.” WellsFactsFormWaterAnimalAirPlanetsMassPlantSpeciesMeatSoilGlobal WarmingPollutionConsumptionExtinctionEcologicalDairyDevastationPlants And AnimalsAir PollutionMass Extinction Author:Sharon Gannon
“Many scientists would argue that we are now in what is called Extinction, and it's caused by this perfect extinction storm: climate change, habitat loss, pollution, unsustainable exploitation of species and habitat resources, and of course, human population explosion. All of these factors work together and conspire to drive a species to extinction on our planet, every half an hour.” HumansTogetherCoursesHoursLossPerfectHalfPlanetsResourcesScientistClimateSpeciesClimate ChangePopulationStormArguingFactorsWorking TogetherPollutionExploitationExtinctionOur PlanetExplosionsHabitatHuman PopulationPopulation Explosion Author:Jeff Corwin
“Our biggest challenges for the ocean and for the planet are problems of perception. People need to understand that species extinctions, habitat destruction, ocean acidification, and pollution are all chipping away at the resilience of the thin layer of life that sustains us on Spaceship Earth.” PeopleNeedsProblemEarthChallengesPlanetsOceanPerceptionDestructionSpeciesResilienceLayersPollutionExtinctionSpaceshipsHabitatChipping AwaySpecies ExtinctionOcean Acidification Author:Edith Widder
“Our planet is currently undergoing a mass extinction of species called the Anthropocene - the Age of Man.” MenAgePlanetsMassSpeciesExtinctionOur PlanetMass Extinction Author:Louie Psihoyos
“Even a casual observer can see that not one of the systems, institutions, and devices that our species has put into place on this planet to "create a better life for all" is functioning in a way that generates that outcome.” WayPlanetsInstitutionsSpeciesOutcomesDevicesObserversBetter LifeCasual Author:Neale Donald Walsch
“Even if we planted a tree on every square yard available in the planet by the end of the century we would only capture at most 10 percent of the CO2 we need to reduce. This does not mean that we should not plant trees; we should, for biodiversity's sake, and for our long-term future together with the other species.” IfsNeedsShouldMeanLongDoeEndsTogetherTermTreeCenturyPlanetsPercentPlantSpeciesSakeAvailableLong TermCaptureSquaresYardsBiodiversityPlant A TreeCo2Futures Together Author:Graciela Chichilnisky
“We know little of the consequences of the geoengineering process, such as spraying particles into the atmosphere that shade the planet from the sun's rays and could decrease its temperature. But this process is how dinosaurs disappeared from the Earth about 60 million years ago, by particles spewed by a volcano or a giant meteorite impact, and our species could follow suit.” KnowsYearsLittlesEarthProcessMillionsSunPlanetsConsequenceYears AgoImpactSpeciesSuitsAtmosphereGiantsShadeRaysParticlesTemperatureDinosaursDecreaseVolcanoesGeoengineering Author:Graciela Chichilnisky
“Evolutionary biologists often appeal to parsimony when they seek to explain why organisms "match" with respect to a given trait. For example, why do almost all the organisms that are alive today on our planet use the same genetic code? If they share a common ancestor, the code could have evolved just once and then been inherited from the most recent common ancestor that present organisms share. On the other hand, if organisms in different species share no common ancestors, the code must have evolved repeatedly.” IfsDifferentUseHandsTodayGivenCommonAliveShareExamplePlanetsSpeciesAppealsCodeAncestorTraitsOrganismsOur PlanetLive For TodayBiologistParsimony Author:Elliott Sober
“We're going to bake this planet, and be a curse to all species, including our own, if we don't find an alternative to carbon-based fuel. That's the #1 problem.” IfsProblemPlanetsSpeciesIncludingAlternativesCurseFuelCarbon Author:Van Jones
“It's possible that we'll screw up the climate so badly that most of us will die and a few breeding pairs will remain somewhere in the arctic. What's more likely is that we'll continue remaking the planet, driving many species to extinction, killing millions of people through the indirect effects of climate change, making life even harder for the poor and powerless than it is now, and making it a little more difficult for the global middle class to live the lives to which they have become accustomed - in other words, business as usual, only worse.” PeopleLittlesDiesDifficultPoorClassMillionsMiddleEffectsPlanetsHarderClimateSpeciesKillingClimate ChangeDrivingMiddle ClassPairsUsualPowerlessScrewsAccustomedExtinctionBreedingScrew UpsArcticIndirect Author:Dale Jamieson
“The sooner we become a multi-planet species, the safer the species is, and the stronger the guarantee that we're going to continue to evolve.” PlanetsStrongerSpeciesEvolveGuaranteesGuarantees That Author:Ron Howard