--- title: "30 Extinctions Quotes by 22 authors" description: "Browse 30 Extinctions quotes by 22 authors. Discover the best Extinctions sayings and thoughts." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/39c/robert-t-bakker-19466_age_often-extinctions-in-the-ocean-occur-at_94997.jpg" --- > [Often extinctions in the ocean occur at the same time as those on land. Then again, the ice age extinctions lost many…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-t-bakker/often-extinctions-in-the-ocean-occur-at-the-same-time-as-those-on/) [Robert T. Bakker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-t-bakker/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/39c/robert-t-bakker-19466_age_often-extinctions-in-the-ocean-occur-at_94997.jpg) > [The extinctions ongoing worldwide promise to be at least as great as the mass extinction that occurred at the end of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-o-wilson/the-extinctions-ongoing-worldwide-promise-to-be-at-least-as-great-as/) [E. O. Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-o-wilson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4f5/e-o-wilson-1348_age_the-extinctions-ongoing-worldwide-promis_144798.png) > [The money to be made is clearly more important than the extinctions we cause, including our own.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guy-r-mcpherson/the-money-to-be-made-is-clearly-more-important-than-the-extinctions/) [Guy R. McPherson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/guy-r-mcpherson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a3/guy-r-mcpherson-65559_causes_the-money-to-be-made-is-clearly-more-imp_2222965.jpg) > [“Intent on their small extinctions, they are ignorant of the greater death going on all around them.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guy-haley/intent-on-their-small-extinctions-they-are-ignorant-of-the-greater/) [Guy Haley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/guy-haley/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5d6/guy-haley-65126_death_intent-on-their-small-extinctions-they-a_447703.jpg) > [Climate change, habitat destruction, extinctions - the Earth has seen it all before, thousands of years ago. And humans may have been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tatiana-schlossberg/climate-change-habitat-destruction-extinctions-the-earth-has-seen-it/) [Tatiana Schlossberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tatiana-schlossberg/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9fc/tatiana-schlossberg-8138_blame_climate-change-habitat-destruction-extin_2555085.jpg) > [“Another expert, David Jablonski, characterizes mass extinctions as “substantial biodiversity losses” that occur rapidly and are “global in extent.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-kolbert/another-expert-david-jablonski-characterizes-mass-extinctions-as/) [Elizabeth Kolbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-kolbert/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/557/elizabeth-kolbert-7570_extinction_another-expert-david-jablonski-character_3196812.jpg) > [“no extinctions from this point onward are inevitable (this has always been true, however) 19,340”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kim-stanley-robinson/no-extinctions-from-this-point-onward-are-inevitable-this-has-always/) [Kim Stanley Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kim-stanley-robinson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/50a/kim-stanley-robinson-2148_inevitable_no-extinctions-from-this-point-onward-ar_3111203.png) > [Mass extinctions may not threaten distant futures, but they are decidedly unpleasant for species caught up in the throes of their power.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/mass-extinctions-may-not-threaten-distant-futures-but-they-are/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5cf/stephen-jay-gould-885_caught_mass-extinctions-may-not-threaten-distan_1962798.png) > [It's hard not to be kind of pessimistic about human beings generally, because we do tend to mess things up. If you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-bryson/it-s-hard-not-to-be-kind-of-pessimistic-about-human-beings-generally/) [Bill Bryson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-bryson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/513/bill-bryson-340_animal_it-s-hard-not-to-be-kind-of-pessimistic_1410362.png) > [“Don’t believe tree-huggers who claim that our ancestors lived in harmony with nature. Long before the Industrial Revolution, Homo sapiens held the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yuval-noah-harari/don-t-believe-tree-huggers-who-claim-that-our-ancestors-lived-in/) [Yuval Noah Harari](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yuval-noah-harari/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1b3/yuval-noah-harari-100_biology_don-t-believe-tree-huggers-who-claim-tha_987293.jpg) > [To dismiss the current extinction wave on the grounds that extinctions are normal events is like ignoring a genocidal massacre on the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jared-diamond/to-dismiss-the-current-extinction-wave-on-the-grounds-that/) [Jared Diamond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jared-diamond/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/00b/jared-diamond-2519_bounds_to-dismiss-the-current-extinction-wave-o_2230651.jpg) > [“The romantic contrast between modern industry that “destroys nature” and our ancestors who “lived in harmony with nature” is groundless. Long before…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yuval-noah-harari/the-romantic-contrast-between-modern-industry-that-destroys-nature/) [Yuval Noah Harari](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yuval-noah-harari/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a49/yuval-noah-harari-100_biology_the-romantic-contrast-between-modern-ind_644259.jpg) > [We tell our children they're trapped like rats on a doomed, bankrupt, gangster-haunted planet with dwindling resources, with nothing to look forward…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grant-morrison/we-tell-our-children-they-re-trapped-like-rats-on-a-doomed-bankrupt/) [Grant Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grant-morrison/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/238/grant-morrison-2360_black_we-tell-our-children-they-re-trapped-lik_2831534.jpg) > [With respect to phenomena like mass extinction, somebody might say why worry about it because in a geological perspective mass extinctions aren't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-lewontin/with-respect-to-phenomena-like-mass-extinction-somebody-might-say-why/) [Richard Lewontin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-lewontin/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6cd/richard-lewontin-20755_awful_with-respect-to-phenomena-like-mass-exti_2994448.png) > [The more we heat up the planet, the more it costs all of us, not just in money, but in colossal famines,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/the-more-we-heat-up-the-planet-the-more-it-costs-all-of-us-not-just/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0a7/rebecca-solnit-569_arctic_the-more-we-heat-up-the-planet-the-more_279237.jpg) > [In the history of the world, all five mass extinctions have been accompanied by massive climate change, so we are facing an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cameron-russell/in-the-history-of-the-world-all-five-mass-extinctions-have-been/) [Cameron Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cameron-russell/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c3b/cameron-russell-11098_accompanied_in-the-history-of-the-world-all-five-mas_1597529.png) > [Of the four billion life forms which have existed on this planet, three billion, nine hundred and sixty million are now extinct.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/of-the-four-billion-life-forms-which-have-existed-on-this-planet/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/883/anonymous-1_asteroids_of-the-four-billion-life-forms-which-hav_2759172.jpg) > [“Long before the Industrial Revolution, Homo sapiens held the record among all organisms for driving the most plant and animal species to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yuval-noah-harari/long-before-the-industrial-revolution-homo-sapiens-held-the-record/) [Yuval Noah Harari](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yuval-noah-harari/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3eb/yuval-noah-harari-100_industrial-revolutio_long-before-the-industrial-revolution-ho_3081881.jpg) > [“The cause of these great extinctions, the most extensive in the seventy-million-year record for mammals, is a mystery. The two prevailing guesses,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-j-o-brien/the-cause-of-these-great-extinctions-the-most-extensive-in-the/) [Stephen J. O'Brien](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-j-o-brien/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2ea/stephen-j-o-brien-43665_extinction_the-cause-of-these-great-extinctions-the_3202046.jpg) > [“There’s a voice that says: "So what?" It’s not my voice, it’s probably not yours, but it makes itself heard in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-quammen/there-s-a-voice-that-says-so-what-it-s-not-my-voice-it-s-probably-not/) [David Quammen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-quammen/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c27/david-quammen-9256_biogeography_there-s-a-voice-that-says-so-what-it-s-n_1983896.jpg) > [“Recent studies funded by Britain’s Natural Environment Research Council provide support for those concerns. (Thomas, et al, 2004; Stevens, et al, 2004)…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-h-lipton/recent-studies-funded-by-britain-s-natural-environment-research/) [Bruce H. Lipton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-h-lipton/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/512/bruce-h-lipton-10233_extinction_recent-studies-funded-by-britain-s-natur_847622.png) > [“The First Wave Extinction, which accompanied the spread of the foragers, was followed by the Second Wave Extinction, which accompanied the spread…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yuval-noah-harari/the-first-wave-extinction-which-accompanied-the-spread-of-the/) [Yuval Noah Harari](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yuval-noah-harari/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/70f/yuval-noah-harari-100_biology_the-first-wave-extinction-which-accompan_1351353.jpg) > [“Don’t believe tree-huggers who claim that our ancestors lived in harmony with nature. Long before the Industrial Revolution, Homo sapiens held the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yuval-noah-harari/don-t-believe-tree-huggers-who-claim-that-our-ancestors-lived-in-3/) [Yuval Noah Harari](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yuval-noah-harari/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1b8/yuval-noah-harari-100_industrial-revolutio_don-t-believe-tree-huggers-who-claim-tha_1833791.jpg) > [“In ordinary times—times here understood to mean whole geologic epochs—extinction takes place only very rarely, more rarely even than speciation, and it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-kolbert/in-ordinary-times-times-here-understood-to-mean-whole-geologic-epochs/) [Elizabeth Kolbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-kolbert/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/963/elizabeth-kolbert-7570_extinction_in-ordinary-times-times-here-understood_834494.png) > [“But for now it’s goodbye to the beaches, and indeed many a celebrated island of yore now lies deep under the waves.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kim-stanley-robinson/but-for-now-it-s-goodbye-to-the-beaches-and-indeed-many-a-celebrated/) [Kim Stanley Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kim-stanley-robinson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a9/kim-stanley-robinson-2148_golden-age_but-for-now-it-s-goodbye-to-the-beaches_1527436.jpg) > [“I mention all this to make the point that if you were designing an organism to look after life in our lonely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-bryson/i-mention-all-this-to-make-the-point-that-if-you-were-designing-an/) [Bill Bryson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-bryson/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/000/bill-bryson-340_biology_i-mention-all-this-to-make-the-point-tha_2916913.jpg) > [ “It’s\] pretty clear that times of high carbon dioxide—and especially times when carbon dioxide levels rapidly rose—coincided with the mass extinctions,” writes… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-brannen/it-s-pretty-clear-that-times-of-high-carbon-dioxide-and-especially/) [Peter Brannen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-brannen/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/206/peter-brannen-44487_carbon-dioxide_it-s-pretty-clear-that-times-of-high-car_265397.jpg) > [For thousands of years it has been understood that, just as civilizations have to come to an end, there can even be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-kingsley/for-thousands-of-years-it-has-been-understood-that-just-as/) [Peter Kingsley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-kingsley/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/312/peter-kingsley-71457_civilization_for-thousands-of-years-it-has-been-under_1068375.jpg) > [“background extinction.” In ordinary times—times here understood to mean whole geologic epochs—extinction takes place only very rarely, more rarely even than speciation,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-kolbert/background-extinction-in-ordinary-times-times-here-understood-to-mean/) [Elizabeth Kolbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-kolbert/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/41e/elizabeth-kolbert-7570_extinction_background-extinction-in-ordinary-times_2675651.jpg) > [It saddens me that in the 21st century, with all our knowledge and power, we are hearing more and more stories of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gisele-bundchen/it-saddens-me-that-in-the-21st-century-with-all-our-knowledge-and/) [Gisele Bundchen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gisele-bundchen/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f41/gisele-bundchen-3211_21st-century_it-saddens-me-that-in-the-21st-century-w_652294.jpg) ## Top authors on Extinctions - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b001/author-yuval-noah-harari-100.jpg) Yuval Noah Harari 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/extinctions/yuval-noah-harari/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/extinctions/#itemlist", "name": "Extinctions Quotes", "numberOfItems": 30, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Often extinctions in the ocean occur at the same time as those on land. Then again, the ice age extinctions lost many big animals, but not many sea faring ones.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Robert T. Bakker" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-t-bakker/often-extinctions-in-the-ocean-occur-at-the-same-time-as-those-on/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/39c/robert-t-bakker-19466_age_often-extinctions-in-the-ocean-occur-at_94997.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/39c/robert-t-bakker-19466_age_often-extinctions-in-the-ocean-occur-at_94997.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/39c/robert-t-bakker-19466_age_often-extinctions-in-the-ocean-occur-at_94997.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Often extinctions in the ocean occur at the same time as those on land. Then again, the ice age extinctions…” — Robert T. 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Wilson" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-o-wilson/the-extinctions-ongoing-worldwide-promise-to-be-at-least-as-great-as/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4f5/e-o-wilson-1348_age_the-extinctions-ongoing-worldwide-promis_144798.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4f5/e-o-wilson-1348_age_the-extinctions-ongoing-worldwide-promis_144798.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4f5/e-o-wilson-1348_age_the-extinctions-ongoing-worldwide-promis_144798.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The extinctions ongoing worldwide promise to be at least as great as the mass extinction that occurred at…” — E. O. 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McPherson" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guy-r-mcpherson/the-money-to-be-made-is-clearly-more-important-than-the-extinctions/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a3/guy-r-mcpherson-65559_causes_the-money-to-be-made-is-clearly-more-imp_2222965.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a3/guy-r-mcpherson-65559_causes_the-money-to-be-made-is-clearly-more-imp_2222965.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a3/guy-r-mcpherson-65559_causes_the-money-to-be-made-is-clearly-more-imp_2222965.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The money to be made is clearly more important than the extinctions we cause, including our own.” — Guy R. McPherson", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Intent on their small extinctions, they are ignorant of the greater death going on all around them.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Guy Haley" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guy-haley/intent-on-their-small-extinctions-they-are-ignorant-of-the-greater/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5d6/guy-haley-65126_death_intent-on-their-small-extinctions-they-a_447703.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5d6/guy-haley-65126_death_intent-on-their-small-extinctions-they-a_447703.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5d6/guy-haley-65126_death_intent-on-their-small-extinctions-they-a_447703.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Intent on their small extinctions, they are ignorant of the greater death going on all around them.” — Guy Haley", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Climate change, habitat destruction, extinctions - the Earth has seen it all before, thousands of years ago. And humans may have been partly to blame for many of those changes in nature, too.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Tatiana Schlossberg" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tatiana-schlossberg/climate-change-habitat-destruction-extinctions-the-earth-has-seen-it/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9fc/tatiana-schlossberg-8138_blame_climate-change-habitat-destruction-extin_2555085.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9fc/tatiana-schlossberg-8138_blame_climate-change-habitat-destruction-extin_2555085.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9fc/tatiana-schlossberg-8138_blame_climate-change-habitat-destruction-extin_2555085.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Climate change, habitat destruction, extinctions - the Earth has seen it all before, thousands of years ago…” — Tatiana Schlossberg", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 6, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Another expert, David Jablonski, characterizes mass extinctions as “substantial biodiversity losses” that occur rapidly and are “global in extent.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Elizabeth Kolbert" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-kolbert/another-expert-david-jablonski-characterizes-mass-extinctions-as/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/557/elizabeth-kolbert-7570_extinction_another-expert-david-jablonski-character_3196812.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/557/elizabeth-kolbert-7570_extinction_another-expert-david-jablonski-character_3196812.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/557/elizabeth-kolbert-7570_extinction_another-expert-david-jablonski-character_3196812.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Another expert, David Jablonski, characterizes mass extinctions as “substantial biodiversity losses” that…” — Elizabeth Kolbert", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 7, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“no extinctions from this point onward are inevitable (this has always been true, however) 19,340”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Kim Stanley Robinson" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kim-stanley-robinson/no-extinctions-from-this-point-onward-are-inevitable-this-has-always/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/50a/kim-stanley-robinson-2148_inevitable_no-extinctions-from-this-point-onward-ar_3111203.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/50a/kim-stanley-robinson-2148_inevitable_no-extinctions-from-this-point-onward-ar_3111203.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/50a/kim-stanley-robinson-2148_inevitable_no-extinctions-from-this-point-onward-ar_3111203.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“no extinctions from this point onward are inevitable (this has always been true, however) 19,340” — Kim Stanley Robinson", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 8, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Mass extinctions may not threaten distant futures, but they are decidedly unpleasant for species caught up in the throes of their power.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Stephen Jay Gould" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/mass-extinctions-may-not-threaten-distant-futures-but-they-are/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5cf/stephen-jay-gould-885_caught_mass-extinctions-may-not-threaten-distan_1962798.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5cf/stephen-jay-gould-885_caught_mass-extinctions-may-not-threaten-distan_1962798.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5cf/stephen-jay-gould-885_caught_mass-extinctions-may-not-threaten-distan_1962798.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Mass extinctions may not threaten distant futures, but they are decidedly unpleasant for species caught up…” — Stephen Jay Gould", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 9, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "It's hard not to be kind of pessimistic about human beings generally, because we do tend to mess things up. If you just look at the history of extinctions, we've killed off an awful lot of animals - and I don't think we're doing a very good job of looking after the planet.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Bill Bryson" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-bryson/it-s-hard-not-to-be-kind-of-pessimistic-about-human-beings-generally/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/513/bill-bryson-340_animal_it-s-hard-not-to-be-kind-of-pessimistic_1410362.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/513/bill-bryson-340_animal_it-s-hard-not-to-be-kind-of-pessimistic_1410362.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/513/bill-bryson-340_animal_it-s-hard-not-to-be-kind-of-pessimistic_1410362.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It's hard not to be kind of pessimistic about human beings generally, because we do tend to mess things up…” — Bill Bryson", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 10, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Don’t believe tree-huggers who claim that our ancestors lived in harmony with nature. Long before the Industrial Revolution, Homo sapiens held the record among all organisms for driving the most plant and animal species to their extinctions.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Yuval Noah Harari" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yuval-noah-harari/don-t-believe-tree-huggers-who-claim-that-our-ancestors-lived-in/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1b3/yuval-noah-harari-100_biology_don-t-believe-tree-huggers-who-claim-tha_987293.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1b3/yuval-noah-harari-100_biology_don-t-believe-tree-huggers-who-claim-tha_987293.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1b3/yuval-noah-harari-100_biology_don-t-believe-tree-huggers-who-claim-tha_987293.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Don’t believe tree-huggers who claim that our ancestors lived in harmony with nature. Long before the…” — Yuval Noah Harari", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 11, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "To dismiss the current extinction wave on the grounds that extinctions are normal events is like ignoring a genocidal massacre on the grounds that every human is bound to die at some time anyway.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jared Diamond" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jared-diamond/to-dismiss-the-current-extinction-wave-on-the-grounds-that/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/00b/jared-diamond-2519_bounds_to-dismiss-the-current-extinction-wave-o_2230651.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/00b/jared-diamond-2519_bounds_to-dismiss-the-current-extinction-wave-o_2230651.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/00b/jared-diamond-2519_bounds_to-dismiss-the-current-extinction-wave-o_2230651.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“To dismiss the current extinction wave on the grounds that extinctions are normal events is like ignoring a…” — Jared Diamond", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 12, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The romantic contrast between modern industry that “destroys nature” and our ancestors who “lived in harmony with nature” is groundless. Long before the Industrial Revolution, Homo sapiens held the record among all organisms for driving the most plant and animal species to their extinctions. We have the dubious distinction of being the deadliest species in the annals of life.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Yuval Noah Harari" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yuval-noah-harari/the-romantic-contrast-between-modern-industry-that-destroys-nature/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a49/yuval-noah-harari-100_biology_the-romantic-contrast-between-modern-ind_644259.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a49/yuval-noah-harari-100_biology_the-romantic-contrast-between-modern-ind_644259.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a49/yuval-noah-harari-100_biology_the-romantic-contrast-between-modern-ind_644259.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The romantic contrast between modern industry that “destroys nature” and our ancestors who “lived in harmony…” — Yuval Noah Harari", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 13, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "We tell our children they're trapped like rats on a doomed, bankrupt, gangster-haunted planet with dwindling resources, with nothing to look forward to but rising sea levels and imminent mass extinctions, then raise a disapproving eyebrow when, in response, they dress in black, cut themselves with razors, starve themselves, gorge themselves, or kill one another.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Grant Morrison" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grant-morrison/we-tell-our-children-they-re-trapped-like-rats-on-a-doomed-bankrupt/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/238/grant-morrison-2360_black_we-tell-our-children-they-re-trapped-lik_2831534.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/238/grant-morrison-2360_black_we-tell-our-children-they-re-trapped-lik_2831534.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/238/grant-morrison-2360_black_we-tell-our-children-they-re-trapped-lik_2831534.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“We tell our children they're trapped like rats on a doomed, bankrupt, gangster-haunted planet with dwindling…” — Grant Morrison", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 14, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "With respect to phenomena like mass extinction, somebody might say why worry about it because in a geological perspective mass extinctions aren't so bad, they wipe out some things and then 10 million years down the road we get new and interesting objects.But I tell you mass extinctions are really awful for folks caught in the midst of them.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Richard Lewontin" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-lewontin/with-respect-to-phenomena-like-mass-extinction-somebody-might-say-why/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6cd/richard-lewontin-20755_awful_with-respect-to-phenomena-like-mass-exti_2994448.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6cd/richard-lewontin-20755_awful_with-respect-to-phenomena-like-mass-exti_2994448.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6cd/richard-lewontin-20755_awful_with-respect-to-phenomena-like-mass-exti_2994448.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“With respect to phenomena like mass extinction, somebody might say why worry about it because in a…” — Richard Lewontin", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 15, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The more we heat up the planet, the more it costs all of us, not just in money, but in colossal famines, displacements, deaths, and species extinctions, as well as in the loss of some of the things that make this planet a blue-green jewel, including its specialized habitats from the melting Arctic to bleaching coral reefs.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Rebecca Solnit" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/the-more-we-heat-up-the-planet-the-more-it-costs-all-of-us-not-just/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0a7/rebecca-solnit-569_arctic_the-more-we-heat-up-the-planet-the-more_279237.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0a7/rebecca-solnit-569_arctic_the-more-we-heat-up-the-planet-the-more_279237.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0a7/rebecca-solnit-569_arctic_the-more-we-heat-up-the-planet-the-more_279237.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The more we heat up the planet, the more it costs all of us, not just in money, but in colossal famines…” — Rebecca Solnit", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 16, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "In the history of the world, all five mass extinctions have been accompanied by massive climate change, so we are facing an incredibly serious threat. In fact, we are technically in the sixth mass extinction right now, and it is the first mass extinction being attributed to humans.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Cameron Russell" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cameron-russell/in-the-history-of-the-world-all-five-mass-extinctions-have-been/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c3b/cameron-russell-11098_accompanied_in-the-history-of-the-world-all-five-mas_1597529.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c3b/cameron-russell-11098_accompanied_in-the-history-of-the-world-all-five-mas_1597529.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c3b/cameron-russell-11098_accompanied_in-the-history-of-the-world-all-five-mas_1597529.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“In the history of the world, all five mass extinctions have been accompanied by massive climate change, so…” — Cameron Russell", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 17, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Of the four billion life forms which have existed on this planet, three billion, nine hundred and sixty million are now extinct. We don't know why. Some by wanton extinction, some through natural catastrophe, some destroyed by meteorites and asteroids. In the light of these mass extinctions it really does seem unreasonable to suppose that Homo sapiens should be exempt. Our species will have been one of the shortest-lived of all, a mere blink, you may say, in the eye of time.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Anonymous" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/of-the-four-billion-life-forms-which-have-existed-on-this-planet/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/883/anonymous-1_asteroids_of-the-four-billion-life-forms-which-hav_2759172.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/883/anonymous-1_asteroids_of-the-four-billion-life-forms-which-hav_2759172.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/883/anonymous-1_asteroids_of-the-four-billion-life-forms-which-hav_2759172.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Of the four billion life forms which have existed on this planet, three billion, nine hundred and sixty…” — Anonymous", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 18, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Long before the Industrial Revolution, Homo sapiens held the record among all organisms for driving the most plant and animal species to their extinctions. We have the dubious distinction of being the deadliest species in the annals of biology. Perhaps if more people were aware of the First Wave and Second Wave extinctions, they’d be less nonchalant about the Third Wave they are part of. If we knew how many species we’ve already eradicated, we might be more motivated to protect those that still survive.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Yuval Noah Harari" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yuval-noah-harari/long-before-the-industrial-revolution-homo-sapiens-held-the-record/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3eb/yuval-noah-harari-100_industrial-revolutio_long-before-the-industrial-revolution-ho_3081881.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3eb/yuval-noah-harari-100_industrial-revolutio_long-before-the-industrial-revolution-ho_3081881.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3eb/yuval-noah-harari-100_industrial-revolutio_long-before-the-industrial-revolution-ho_3081881.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Long before the Industrial Revolution, Homo sapiens held the record among all organisms for driving the most…” — Yuval Noah Harari", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 19, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The cause of these great extinctions, the most extensive in the seventy-million-year record for mammals, is a mystery. The two prevailing guesses, climatic environmental pressure or the destruction caused by human immigration in these regions, are at a stalemate. Nearly all regions of extinction were briefly inhabited by early humans, which is why some feel they played roles. I was not there at the time, so I can only speculate, but surely a global catastrophe of some sort triggered the cataclysm.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Stephen J. O'Brien" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-j-o-brien/the-cause-of-these-great-extinctions-the-most-extensive-in-the/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2ea/stephen-j-o-brien-43665_extinction_the-cause-of-these-great-extinctions-the_3202046.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2ea/stephen-j-o-brien-43665_extinction_the-cause-of-these-great-extinctions-the_3202046.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2ea/stephen-j-o-brien-43665_extinction_the-cause-of-these-great-extinctions-the_3202046.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The cause of these great extinctions, the most extensive in the seventy-million-year record for mammals, is…” — Stephen J. O'Brien", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 20, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“There’s a voice that says: \"So what?\" It’s not my voice, it’s probably not yours, but it makes itself heard in the arenas of public opinion, querulous and smug and fortified by just a little knowledge, which as always is a dangerous thing. \"So what if a bunch of species go extinct?\" It says. \"Extinction is a natural process. Darwin himself said so, didn’t he? Extinction is the complement of evolution, making room for new species to evolve. There have always been extinctions. So why worry about these extinctions currently being caused by humanity?\" And there has always been a pilot light burning in your furnace. So why worry when your house is on fire?”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "David Quammen" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-quammen/there-s-a-voice-that-says-so-what-it-s-not-my-voice-it-s-probably-not/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c27/david-quammen-9256_biogeography_there-s-a-voice-that-says-so-what-it-s-n_1983896.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c27/david-quammen-9256_biogeography_there-s-a-voice-that-says-so-what-it-s-n_1983896.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c27/david-quammen-9256_biogeography_there-s-a-voice-that-says-so-what-it-s-n_1983896.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“There’s a voice that says: \"So what?\" It’s not my voice, it’s probably not yours, but it makes itself heard…” — David Quammen", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 21, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Recent studies funded by Britain’s Natural Environment Research Council provide support for those concerns. (Thomas, et al, 2004; Stevens, et al, 2004) While there have been five mass extinctions in the history of our planet, they are all presumed to have been caused by extraterrestrial events, such as a comet smashing to earth. One of the new studies concludes that the “natural world is experiencing the sixth, major extinction event in its history.” (Lovell 2004) This time though, the cause of the extinction is not extraterrestrial. According to one of the study’s authors, Jeremy Thomas, “As far as we can tell this one is caused by one animal organism—man.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Bruce H. Lipton" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-h-lipton/recent-studies-funded-by-britain-s-natural-environment-research/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/512/bruce-h-lipton-10233_extinction_recent-studies-funded-by-britain-s-natur_847622.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/512/bruce-h-lipton-10233_extinction_recent-studies-funded-by-britain-s-natur_847622.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/512/bruce-h-lipton-10233_extinction_recent-studies-funded-by-britain-s-natur_847622.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Recent studies funded by Britain’s Natural Environment Research Council provide support for those concerns…” — Bruce H. Lipton", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 22, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The First Wave Extinction, which accompanied the spread of the foragers, was followed by the Second Wave Extinction, which accompanied the spread of the farmers, and gives us an important perspective on the Third Wave Extinction, which industrial activity is causing today. Don’t believe tree-huggers who claim that our ancestors lived in harmony with nature. Long before the Industrial Revolution, Homo sapiens held the record among all organisms for driving the most plant and animal species to their extinctions. We have the dubious distinction of being the deadliest species in the annals of biology. Perhaps”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Yuval Noah Harari" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yuval-noah-harari/the-first-wave-extinction-which-accompanied-the-spread-of-the/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/70f/yuval-noah-harari-100_biology_the-first-wave-extinction-which-accompan_1351353.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/70f/yuval-noah-harari-100_biology_the-first-wave-extinction-which-accompan_1351353.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/70f/yuval-noah-harari-100_biology_the-first-wave-extinction-which-accompan_1351353.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The First Wave Extinction, which accompanied the spread of the foragers, was followed by the Second Wave…” — Yuval Noah Harari", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 23, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Don’t believe tree-huggers who claim that our ancestors lived in harmony with nature. Long before the Industrial Revolution, Homo sapiens held the record among all organisms for driving the most plant and animal species to their extinctions. We have the dubious distinction of being the deadliest species in the annals of biology. Perhaps if more people were aware of the First Wave and Second Wave extinctions, they’d be less nonchalant about the Third Wave they are part of. If we knew how many species we’ve already eradicated, we might be more motivated to protect those that still survive”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Yuval Noah Harari" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yuval-noah-harari/don-t-believe-tree-huggers-who-claim-that-our-ancestors-lived-in-3/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1b8/yuval-noah-harari-100_industrial-revolutio_don-t-believe-tree-huggers-who-claim-tha_1833791.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1b8/yuval-noah-harari-100_industrial-revolutio_don-t-believe-tree-huggers-who-claim-tha_1833791.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1b8/yuval-noah-harari-100_industrial-revolutio_don-t-believe-tree-huggers-who-claim-tha_1833791.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Don’t believe tree-huggers who claim that our ancestors lived in harmony with nature. Long before the…” — Yuval Noah Harari", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 24, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“In ordinary times—times here understood to mean whole geologic epochs—extinction takes place only very rarely, more rarely even than speciation, and it occurs at what’s known as the background extinction rate. This rate varies from one group of organisms to another; often it’s expressed in terms of extinctions per million species-years. Calculating the background extinction rate is a laborious task that entails combing through whole databases’ worth of fossils. For what’s probably the best-studied group, which is mammals, it’s been reckoned to be roughly .25 million species-years. This means that, since there are about fifty-five hundred mammal species wandering around today, at the background extinction rate you’d expect—once again very roughly—one species to disappear every seven hundred years.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Elizabeth Kolbert" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-kolbert/in-ordinary-times-times-here-understood-to-mean-whole-geologic-epochs/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/963/elizabeth-kolbert-7570_extinction_in-ordinary-times-times-here-understood_834494.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/963/elizabeth-kolbert-7570_extinction_in-ordinary-times-times-here-understood_834494.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/963/elizabeth-kolbert-7570_extinction_in-ordinary-times-times-here-understood_834494.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“In ordinary times—times here understood to mean whole geologic epochs—extinction takes place only very…” — Elizabeth Kolbert", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 25, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“But for now it’s goodbye to the beaches, and indeed many a celebrated island of yore now lies deep under the waves. An entire world and way of life has disappeared with these fabled places, a lifeway that went right back to the beginning of the species in south and east Africa, where the earliest humans were often intimately involved with the sea. That wet, sandy, tidal, salty, sun-flecked, beautiful beach life: all gone, along with so much else, of course; animals, plants, fish. It’s part of the mass extinction event they are still struggling to end, to escape. So much has been lost that will never come back again, that the loss of the joy of the relatively few humans who were lucky enough to live on the strand, who combed the beaches, and fished, and rode the waves, and lay in the sun – that’s nothing much to grieve for, given everything else that has been lost, all the suffering, all the hunger, all the death, all the extinctions. Most of the mammal species are gone. Still, it was a way of life much beloved, and still remembered in art and song, image and story – still legendary, still a lost golden age, vibrating at some level below thought, there in their salty blood and tears, in the long, curled waves of DNA that still break inside them all.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Kim Stanley Robinson" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kim-stanley-robinson/but-for-now-it-s-goodbye-to-the-beaches-and-indeed-many-a-celebrated/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a9/kim-stanley-robinson-2148_golden-age_but-for-now-it-s-goodbye-to-the-beaches_1527436.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a9/kim-stanley-robinson-2148_golden-age_but-for-now-it-s-goodbye-to-the-beaches_1527436.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a9/kim-stanley-robinson-2148_golden-age_but-for-now-it-s-goodbye-to-the-beaches_1527436.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“But for now it’s goodbye to the beaches, and indeed many a celebrated island of yore now lies deep under the…” — Kim Stanley Robinson", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 26, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“I mention all this to make the point that if you were designing an organism to look after life in our lonely cosmos, to monitor where it is going and keep a record of where it has been, you wouldn't choose human beings for the job. But here's an extremely salient point: we have been chosen, by fate or Providence or whatever you wish to call it. It's an unnerving thought that we may be living the universe's supreme achievement and its worst nightmare simultaneously. Because we are so remarkably careless about looking after things, both when alive and when not, we have no idea-- really none at all-- about how many things have died off permanently, or may soon, or may never, and what role we have played in any part of the process. In 1979, in the book The Sinking Ark, the author Norman Myers suggested that human activities were causing about two extinctions a week on the planet. By the early 1990s he had raised the figure to about some six hundred per week. (That's extinctions of all types-- plants, insects, and so on as well as animals.) Others have put the figure ever higher-- to well over a thousand a week. A United Nations report of 1995, on the other hand, put the total number of known extinctions in the last four hundred years at slightly under 500 for animals and slightly over 650 for plants-- while allowing that this was \"almost certainly an underestimate,\" particularly with regard to tropical species. A few interpreters think most extinction figures are grossly inflated. The fact is, we don't know. Don't have any idea. We don't know when we started doing many of the things we've done. We don't know what we are doing right now or how our present actions will affect the future. What we do know is that there is only one planet to do it on, and only one species of being capable of making a considered difference. Edward O. Wilson expressed it with unimprovable brevity in The Diversity of Life: \"One planet, one experiment.\" If this book has a lesson, it is that we are awfully lucky to be here-- and by \"we\" i mean every living thing. To attain any kind of life in this universe of ours appears to be quite an achievement. As humans we are doubly lucky, of course: We enjoy not only the privilege of existence but also the singular ability to appreciate it and even, in a multitude of ways, to make it better. It is a talent we have only barely begun to grasp. We have arrived at this position of eminence in a stunningly short time. Behaviorally modern human beings-- that is, people who can speak and make art and organize complex activities-- have existed for only about 0.0001 percent of Earth's history. But surviving for even that little while has required a nearly endless string of good fortune. We really are at the beginning of it all. The trick, of course, is to make sure we never find the end. And that, almost certainly, will require a good deal more than lucky breaks.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Bill Bryson" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-bryson/i-mention-all-this-to-make-the-point-that-if-you-were-designing-an/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/000/bill-bryson-340_biology_i-mention-all-this-to-make-the-point-tha_2916913.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/000/bill-bryson-340_biology_i-mention-all-this-to-make-the-point-tha_2916913.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/000/bill-bryson-340_biology_i-mention-all-this-to-make-the-point-tha_2916913.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I mention all this to make the point that if you were designing an organism to look after life in our lonely…” — Bill Bryson", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 27, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“It’s] pretty clear that times of high carbon dioxide—and especially times when carbon dioxide levels rapidly rose—coincided with the mass extinctions,” writes University of Washington paleontologist and End-Permian mass extinction expert Peter Ward. “Here is the driver of extinction.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Peter Brannen" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-brannen/it-s-pretty-clear-that-times-of-high-carbon-dioxide-and-especially/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/206/peter-brannen-44487_carbon-dioxide_it-s-pretty-clear-that-times-of-high-car_265397.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/206/peter-brannen-44487_carbon-dioxide_it-s-pretty-clear-that-times-of-high-car_265397.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/206/peter-brannen-44487_carbon-dioxide_it-s-pretty-clear-that-times-of-high-car_265397.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It’s] pretty clear that times of high carbon dioxide—and especially times when carbon dioxide levels rapidly…” — Peter Brannen", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 28, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "For thousands of years it has been understood that, just as civilizations have to come to an end, there can even be times of global extinctions. But always there are people who know how to gather the essence of life and hold it safely, protect it and nurture it until the next seeding.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Peter Kingsley" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-kingsley/for-thousands-of-years-it-has-been-understood-that-just-as/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/312/peter-kingsley-71457_civilization_for-thousands-of-years-it-has-been-under_1068375.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/312/peter-kingsley-71457_civilization_for-thousands-of-years-it-has-been-under_1068375.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/312/peter-kingsley-71457_civilization_for-thousands-of-years-it-has-been-under_1068375.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“For thousands of years it has been understood that, just as civilizations have to come to an end, there can…” — Peter Kingsley", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 29, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“background extinction.” In ordinary times—times here understood to mean whole geologic epochs—extinction takes place only very rarely, more rarely even than speciation, and it occurs at what’s known as the background extinction rate. This rate varies from one group of organisms to another; often it’s expressed in terms of extinctions per million species-years.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Elizabeth Kolbert" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-kolbert/background-extinction-in-ordinary-times-times-here-understood-to-mean/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/41e/elizabeth-kolbert-7570_extinction_background-extinction-in-ordinary-times_2675651.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/41e/elizabeth-kolbert-7570_extinction_background-extinction-in-ordinary-times_2675651.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/41e/elizabeth-kolbert-7570_extinction_background-extinction-in-ordinary-times_2675651.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“background extinction.” In ordinary times—times here understood to mean whole geologic epochs—extinction…” — Elizabeth Kolbert", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 30, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "It saddens me that in the 21st century, with all our knowledge and power, we are hearing more and more stories of possible extinctions due to people's choice. We are responsible for our choices and the only ones capable of changing our future.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gisele Bundchen" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gisele-bundchen/it-saddens-me-that-in-the-21st-century-with-all-our-knowledge-and/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f41/gisele-bundchen-3211_21st-century_it-saddens-me-that-in-the-21st-century-w_652294.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f41/gisele-bundchen-3211_21st-century_it-saddens-me-that-in-the-21st-century-w_652294.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f41/gisele-bundchen-3211_21st-century_it-saddens-me-that-in-the-21st-century-w_652294.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It saddens me that in the 21st century, with all our knowledge and power, we are hearing more and more…” — Gisele Bundchen", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/extinctions/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/extinctions/", "name": "Extinctions Quotes", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/extinctions/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/39c/robert-t-bakker-19466_age_often-extinctions-in-the-ocean-occur-at_94997.jpg" }, "description": "Browse 30 Extinctions quotes by 22 authors. 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