“I'm not arguing that America would be a better or more beautiful place if it had imported hippopotamuses in 1910. But there is something beautiful about the America that considered importing them-an America so intent on facing down its problems,… — Jon Mooallem Copy Share Image
“The kids ignored the cranes, and the cranes ignored the kids, George remembered, and that struck him as the best humanity could realistically hope… — Jon Mooallem Copy Share Image
“I was relieved not to find yet another crabby and wounded ex-environmentalist, and I asked her how she was managing to live in a… — Jon Mooallem Copy Share Image
“I'm not arguing that America would be a better or more beautiful place if it had imported hippopotamuses in 1910. But there is something… — Jon Mooallem Copy Share Image
“You're not what you were before," Jana told me, "but neither are you what you're going to be. The soup stage really sucks, but… — Jon Mooallem Copy Share Image
“In other words, in the encroaching malaise of 1910, it was easy to be gripped by the brilliance of the hippopotamus scheme, to feel… — Jon Mooallem Copy Share Image
“Zoom out and what you see is one species--us--struggling to keep all others in their appropriate places, or at least in the places we've… — Jon Mooallem Copy Share Image
“Representative Broussard had dispatched a field agent on a fact-finding mission. The man, a native of southern Africa, found the Louisiana swamps “wildly dismal… — Jon Mooallem Copy Share Image
“This animal, homely as a steam-roller, [is] the embodiment of salvation,” it wrote. “Peace, plenty, and contentment lie before us; and a new life,… — Jon Mooallem Copy Share Image
“Importing antelopes and giraffes suddenly became politically impossible. The experience had left Burnham angry—mostly at himself. He’d been naive enough to believe that America… — Jon Mooallem Copy Share Image
“The phenomenon that Powell stumbled onto has a name: shifting baselines syndrome... Every generation of scientist accepts the oceans as it inherits them... when… — Jon Mooallem Copy Share Image
![“Representative Broussard had dispatched a field agent on a fact-finding mission. The man, a native of southern Africa, found the Louisiana swamps “wildly dismal and forbidding.” (The “silence strike[s] one with an almost unforgettable horror,” he wrote in his report, titled “Why and How to Place…” quote by Jon Mooallem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/fd8/jon-mooallem-42343_goals_representative-broussard-had-dispatched_2701445.jpg)
![“This animal, homely as a steam-roller, [is] the embodiment of salvation,” it wrote. “Peace, plenty, and contentment lie before us; and a new life, with new experiences, new opportunities, new vigor, new romance, folded in that golden future when the meadows and the bayous of our Southern lands…” quote by Jon Mooallem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/29d/jon-mooallem-42343_animal_this-animal-homely-as-a-steam-roller-is_2957184.jpg)
