“I started to see human beings as little lonesome, water based, pink meat, life forms pushing air through themselves and making noises that the other little pieces of meat seemed to understand. I was thinking to myself, 'There's five billion people here but we've never been more isolated.' The only result of the aggressive individualism we pursue is that you lose sight of your compassion and we go to bed at night thinking, 'Is this all there is?' because we don't feel fulfilled.” PeopleThinkingFeelsHumansLittlesFormNightWaterLosesHuman BeingsResultsCompassionFivePiecesAirBedSightBillionsNoisePursueMeatPushingAggressiveIndividualismIsolatedFulfilledLonesomeNight Thinking Author:Devin Townsend
“It seems the height of antiquated hubris to claim that the universe carried on as it did for billions of years in order to form a comfortable abode for us. Chance and historical contingency give the world of life most of its glory and fascination. I sit here happy to be alive and sure that some reason must exist for "why me?" Or the earth might have been totally covered with water, and an octopus might now be telling its children why the eight-legged God of all things had made such a perfect world for cephalopods.” WorldGivingYearsChildrenHas BeensMadeReasonSeemsMightEarthFormOrderUniverseWaterChancePerfectAliveAtheismComfortableGloryAll ThingsClaimsHistoricalEightBillionsHeightCoveredMight Have BeenFascinationHubrisA Perfect WorldAbodeWhy MeContingencyOctopusHappy To Be Alive Book:An Urchin in the Storm: Essays about Books and Ideas Source: An Urchin in the Storm: Essays about Books and Ideas
“Our world is one of terrible contradictions. Plenty of food, but one billion people go hungry. Lavish lifestyles for a few, but poverty for too many others. Huge advances in medicine while mothers die every day in childbirth, and children die every day from drinking dirty water. Billions spent on weapons to kill people instead of keeping them safe.” PeopleWorldChildrenMotherDiesWaterPovertyHugeTerribleSafeWeaponsMedicineDrinkingBillionsLifestyleHungryPlentyDirtyContradictionOur WorldChildbirthDirty WaterLavish Lifestyle Author:Ban Ki-moon
“Although the United States has made tremendous progress cleaning up its water by removing billions of pounds of pollutants and doubling the number of waterways safe for fishing and swimming, a majority of Americans live within 10 miles of a polluted lake, river, stream or coastal area.” MadeStatesWaterUnitedNumbersUnited StatesProgressSafeAreasRiversMajorityEnvironmentalBillionsMilesStreamsLakesFishingPoundsSwimmingCleaningCleaning UpCoastal Author:Carol Browner
“We can decide that the presence of cancer-causing substances in our air, water, and food is too expensive. A 2009 study, for example, has found that coal miners in Appalachia costs the region five times more in premature deaths, including from cancer, than it provides to the region in jobs, taxes, and economic benefits. In California, the production and use of hazardous chemicals cost the state $2.6 billion in 2004 alone in lost wages and health-care expenses to treat workers and children with pollution-linked diseases.” ChildrenStatesUseCareJobsFoundLostWaterStudyFiveAirEconomicExampleCostTaxesDiseaseBenefitsTreatsEnvironmentalWorkersIncludingCancerProductionsBillionsHealth CareSubstanceCaliforniaExpensiveRegionsExpensesChemicalsPollutionWagesCoalLinkedPrematureMinersAppalachiaCoal MinersPremature Death Author:Sandra Steingraber
“Dream of a world where poverty is history, dream of a world where we don't spend those obscene billions on arms, knowing full well that a tiny fraction of those budgets of death would ensure that children everywhere had clean water to drink, could afford the cheap inoculations against preventable diseases, would have good schools, adequate healthcare and decent homes.” WorldWellsChildrenHomeDreamSchoolWaterPovertyKnowingArmsDrinkDiseaseCleanBillionsTinyBudgetsDecentHealthcareAdequateFractionsObsceneClean WaterGood School Author:Desmond Tutu