“In the 1930s, with no computers to precisely calculate tolerances of construction materials, cautious engineers simply heaped on excess mass and redundancy.… — Alan Weisman Copy Share Image
“The Panama Canal,' says Abdiel Perez, 'is like a wound that humans inflicted on the Earth--one that nature is trying to heal.” — Alan Weisman Copy Share Image
The fact that the infrastructure is falling apart is not necessarily because it's built poorly. The New York City subways were built in 1903.… — Alan Weisman Copy Share Image
“Before artificial nitrogen fertilizer became widely available, the world's population was around 2 billion. When we no longer have it - or if we… — Alan Weisman Copy Share Image
“Puszcza, an old Polish word, means “forest primeval.” Straddling the border between Poland and Belarus, the half-million acres of the Białowieża Puszcza contain Europe’s… — Alan Weisman Copy Share Image
“In recent years, a green burial movement has protested formaldehyde, which oxidizes to formic acid, the toxic in fire ants and bee stingers, as… — Alan Weisman Copy Share Image
“In the days when money was backed by its face value in silver or gold, there were limits to how much wealth could flow… — Alan Weisman Copy Share Image
“Missing, however, are nearly all fauna adapted to us. The seemingly invincible cockroach, a tropical import, long ago froze in unheated apartment buildings. Without… — Alan Weisman Copy Share Image
All of us humans have myriad other species to thank. Without them, we couldn't exist. It's that simple, and we can't afford to ignore… — Alan Weisman Copy Share Image
In a future that portends stronger and more-frequent hurricanes striking North America's Atlantic coast, ferocious winds will pummel tall, unsteady structures. Some will topple,… — Alan Weisman Copy Share Image
The real people who hold our civilization together are the maintenance people. If it weren't for them - pumping water out of subways, painting… — Alan Weisman Copy Share Image
“Once, we built structures entirely from the most durable substances we knew: granite block, for instance. The results are still around today to admire,… — Alan Weisman Copy Share Image
