Unless someone like you
cares a whole awful lot,
Nothing is going to get better.
It's not.
--Dr. Seuss, The Lorax
cares a whole awful lot,
Nothing is going to get better.
It's not.
--Dr. Seuss, The Lorax
The wonder is that we can see these trees
and not wonder more.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
and not wonder more.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Jane Goodall
You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.
There are certain characteristics that define a good chimp mother. She is patient, she is protective but she is not over-protective - that is really important. She is tolerant, but she can impose discipline. She is affectionate. She plays. And the most important of all: she is supportive.
As I'm traveling around, I meet many small children. And when I look at a small child and think how we've harmed this beautiful planet since I was that age, I feel a kind of desperation, anger, shame. I don't know what I feel; I just don't know what the emotion is.
It's been proven by quite a few studies that plants are good for our psychological development. If you green an area, the rate of crime goes down. Torture victims begin to recover when they spend time outside in a garden with flowers. So we need them, in some deep psychological sense, which I don't suppose anybody really understands yet.
The tree I had in the garden as a child, my beech tree, I used to climb up there and spend hours. I took my homework up there, my books, I went up there if I was sad, and it just felt very good to be up there among the green leaves and the birds and the sky.
From my perspective, I absolutely believe in a greater spiritual power, far greater than I am, from which I have derived strength in moments of sadness or fear. That's what I believe, and it was very, very strong in the forest.
You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.
There are certain characteristics that define a good chimp mother. She is patient, she is protective but she is not over-protective - that is really important. She is tolerant, but she can impose discipline. She is affectionate. She plays. And the most important of all: she is supportive.
As I'm traveling around, I meet many small children. And when I look at a small child and think how we've harmed this beautiful planet since I was that age, I feel a kind of desperation, anger, shame. I don't know what I feel; I just don't know what the emotion is.
It's been proven by quite a few studies that plants are good for our psychological development. If you green an area, the rate of crime goes down. Torture victims begin to recover when they spend time outside in a garden with flowers. So we need them, in some deep psychological sense, which I don't suppose anybody really understands yet.
The tree I had in the garden as a child, my beech tree, I used to climb up there and spend hours. I took my homework up there, my books, I went up there if I was sad, and it just felt very good to be up there among the green leaves and the birds and the sky.
From my perspective, I absolutely believe in a greater spiritual power, far greater than I am, from which I have derived strength in moments of sadness or fear. That's what I believe, and it was very, very strong in the forest.
Birds, insects and flowers
all in their own way
tell a deep summer joy.
~John Muir
all in their own way
tell a deep summer joy.
~John Muir
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens
can change the world; indeed,
it's the only thing that ever has.
--attributed to Margaret Mead
can change the world; indeed,
it's the only thing that ever has.
--attributed to Margaret Mead
Sylvia Earle
Look in the mirror, consider your talents, and think about how you might use them to make a difference. Some have artistic skills, others are good with numbers or have a way with words. Everyone has power to make a difference as an individual, or by joining the company of others who share a common goal. The key is in knowing that what you do matters, including doing nothing!
We need to respect the oceans and take care of them
as if our lives depended on it. Because they do.
Hold up a mirror and ask yourself what you are capable of doing,
and what you really care about. Then take the initiative -
don't wait for someone else to ask you to act.
I love music of all kinds, but there's no greater music
than the sound of my grandchildren laughing; my kids, too.
There's something missing about how we're informing the youngsters
coming along about what matters in the world. We teach them
the numbers and the letters, but we fail to communicate
the importance of our connection to the living world.
Look in the mirror, consider your talents, and think about how you might use them to make a difference. Some have artistic skills, others are good with numbers or have a way with words. Everyone has power to make a difference as an individual, or by joining the company of others who share a common goal. The key is in knowing that what you do matters, including doing nothing!
We need to respect the oceans and take care of them
as if our lives depended on it. Because they do.
Hold up a mirror and ask yourself what you are capable of doing,
and what you really care about. Then take the initiative -
don't wait for someone else to ask you to act.
I love music of all kinds, but there's no greater music
than the sound of my grandchildren laughing; my kids, too.
There's something missing about how we're informing the youngsters
coming along about what matters in the world. We teach them
the numbers and the letters, but we fail to communicate
the importance of our connection to the living world.
Nature does not hurry,
yet everything is accomplished.
--Lao Tzu
yet everything is accomplished.
--Lao Tzu