"The world is full of magic things patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper."
This quote by Alex Shoumatoff emphasizes that the world is abundant with wonders and mysteries, which are often unnoticed due to our dulled senses or lack of attention. He suggests that as we evolve and become more perceptive, we will be able to appreciate and discover these magical aspects of the world around us. It's a call to heighten our awareness and rediscover the enchantment hidden in everyday experiences.
"Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit."
The quote emphasizes that wilderness, or untamed natural environments, is essential to the human spirit. It suggests that the connection with nature, the freedom, and the raw beauty it offers, are vital for our emotional, psychological, and perhaps even physical well-being. In a modern world often dominated by technology and urbanization, the quote serves as a reminder of the importance of preserving and valuing wilderness areas to maintain a balanced and fulfilling human existence.
"Nature has a way of finding balance no matter how much we try to disrupt it."
This quote underscores the inherent resilience and adaptability of nature, suggesting that despite human efforts to distort or exploit natural systems, they have an innate capacity for self-correction and recovery. It implies a delicate interplay between human actions and the natural world, emphasizing the importance of preserving and respecting ecosystems as their equilibrium can be disrupted but never fully destroyed.
"The wilderness can be as harsh as a jail, and as beautiful as heaven."
This quote suggests that the wilderness, in its raw and untamed state, embodies two contradictory aspects - it can be restrictive and uncomfortable, like a prison or jail, but at the same time, it can be breathtakingly beautiful, akin to heaven. This duality underscores the complex and profound impact that wilderness has on us: it challenges us with its harshness while offering spiritual and aesthetic inspiration. It serves as a reminder that nature's beauty is often found in its most challenging and untouched environments.
"In the vastness of nature, man's existence is only a fleeting moment in time."
This quote emphasizes the temporary nature of human life when contrasted with the immense scale and duration of the natural world. It invites us to appreciate our presence within nature as a brief, yet significant, interlude, encouraging introspection about our impact on and connection to the environment.
Elephants are not human, of course. They are something much more ancient and primordial, living on a different plane of existence. Long before we arrived on the scene, they worked out a way of being in the world that has not fundamentally changed and is sustainable, and not predatory or destructive.
- Alex Shoumatoff
The Awa are a distinctive-looking, diminutive forest people, smaller than any of the dozen other Amazon tribespeople I have met. Reduced size is adaptive in a rain forest. You can move around more easily and unobtrusively. Not only humans but other species are smaller in rain forests.
- Alex Shoumatoff
Before you rip off three feet of toilet paper, consider that each year 500,000 acres of virgin boreal forest in northern Alberta and Ontario are being clear-cut to make the stuff. These forests are home to some 500 First Nation communities, as well as caribou and bears, moose and wolves, and, in the summertime, billions of songbirds.
- Alex Shoumatoff
According to the U.N., more than 2.7 billion people will face severe water shortages by 2025. Many social scientists predict that the next big wars will be over water. Nevertheless, the average American family blissfully consumes 300 gallons a day, when you add in watering the lawn and washing dishes, clothes, and cars.
- Alex Shoumatoff
The plumbing and pluvial dynamics of the Amazon, the largest freshwater system on Earth, are still far from understood. This is partly because it is a semi-open system. Moisture flows in and out unpredictably. A lot of nonlinear feedback loops and 'remote influences' - continental, transcontinental, oceanic, meteorological - come into play.
- Alex Shoumatoff
Even as global warming increases the frequency of El Nino and the Atlantic event, their effects are being amplified by the annual loss of an area of rain forest the size of New Jersey. Less rain falls, and the water runs into the rivers instead of being sucked up by the fungus filaments and tree roots.
- Alex Shoumatoff
Most of the Amazon basin is as flat as a pancake and laced with extravagantly meandering waterways. One school of thought holds that more than 145 million years ago, when Africa and South America were joined, the Amazon's main stem was connected to the Niger River and actually flowed in the opposite direction, toward the Pacific Ocean.
- Alex Shoumatoff
The usual way of growing cotton is highly petrochemical-intensive, requiring 110 pounds of nitrogen fertilizer per acre. Some of the fertilizer is broken down by soil bacteria into nitrate, a toxic and highly soluble chemical that can leach into groundwater or get washed into lakes, creating oxygenless dead zones.
- Alex Shoumatoff
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