--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: ... the constant flow of images undercuts…" description: "\"... the constant flow of images undercuts the sense that there's actually something wrong with the world. How can there really be a shortage of whoopin..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7fa/bill-mckibben-1057_constant_the-constant-flow-of-images-undercuts-th_2915780.jpg" --- # ... the constant flow of images undercuts the sense that… ![“... the constant flow of images undercuts the sense that there's actually something wrong with the world. How can there really be a shortage of whooping cranes when you've seen a thousand images of them - seen ten times more images than there are actually whooping cranes left in the wild?” quote by Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7fa/bill-mckibben-1057_constant_the-constant-flow-of-images-undercuts-th_2915780.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7fa/bill-mckibben-1057_constant_the-constant-flow-of-images-undercuts-th_2915780.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7fa/bill-mckibben-1057_constant_the-constant-flow-of-images-undercuts-th_2915780.jpg) > “... the constant flow of images undercuts the sense that there's actually something wrong with the world. How can there really be a shortage of whooping cranes when you've seen a thousand images of them - seen ten times more images than there are actually whooping cranes left in the wild?” [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Abundant images of endangered species create a false sense of security, masking real scarcity. **In simple terms:** Images can mislead about species scarcity. Key Takeaway Critically assess visual information about nature. Themes environment perception media conservation Mood concerned analytical Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - wildlife advocacy - policy making - education campaigns - media literacy Key Concepts cognitive bias visual culture ecology Questions to Reflect On - How does visual abundance affect conservation action? - What strategies counteract this bias? A Different Perspective Overreliance on images may reduce urgency. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Actually Whooping](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/actually-whooping-4223267/) [Constant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/constant/) [Cranes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cranes/) [Flow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flow/) [Images Seen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/images-seen-4223266/) [Left](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/left/) [Photography](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/photography/) [Shortage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shortage/) [Ten](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ten/) [Thousand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thousand/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Whooping](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/whooping-1352492/) [Whooping Cranes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/whooping-cranes-3176966/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [There are more whooping cranes in the United States of America than there are women in Congress.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-russ/there-are-more-whooping-cranes-in-the-united-states-of-america-than/) [Joanna Russ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-russ/) > [Conservation is sometimes perceived as stopping everything cold, as holding whooping cranes in higher esteem than people. It is up to science to spread…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-lovejoy/conservation-is-sometimes-perceived-as-stopping-everything-cold-as/) [Thomas Lovejoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-lovejoy/) > [Of course, words can teach you right from wrong, but a butt-whooping is a real good deterrent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/trent-williams/of-course-words-can-teach-you-right-from-wrong-but-a-butt-whooping-is/) [Trent Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/trent-williams/) > [“She needs Jesus and as ass-whooping!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-aleo/she-needs-jesus-and-as-ass-whooping/) [Toni Aleo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-aleo/) > [“in 1955 the CIA released the whooping cough virus over Tampa, Florida without telling anyone, so they could see how quickly it would spread;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-goldstein/in-1955-the-cia-released-the-whooping-cough-virus-over-tampa-florida/) [Jack Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-goldstein/) > [Our weird problem is an abundance of resources and a shortage of hard economic reasons not to use them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/our-weird-problem-is-an-abundance-of-resources-and-a-shortage-of-hard/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [I love the joy of mountains Wandering free with no concerns Every day I find food for this old body There's leisure for thinking,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hanshan/i-love-the-joy-of-mountains-wandering-free-with-no-concerns-every-day/) [Hanshan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hanshan/) > [My mother cranes her neck. Her ability to be fascinated by things is her best gift to me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-shteyngart/my-mother-cranes-her-neck-her-ability-to-be-fascinated-by-things-is/) [Gary Shteyngart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-shteyngart/) > [I guess this is a bad time to mention I hung a dummy and painted Seneca Crane's name on it...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suzanne-collins/i-guess-this-is-a-bad-time-to-mention-i-hung-a-dummy-and-painted/) [Suzanne Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suzanne-collins/) > [Do you recall the story of the young Yogi in the Mahâbhârata who prided himself on his psychic powers by burning the bodies of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/swami-vivekananda/do-you-recall-the-story-of-the-young-yogi-in-the-mah-bh-rata-who/) [Swami Vivekananda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/swami-vivekananda/) > [A falcon who chases a warlike crane can only hope for a life of pain.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabriel-garc-a-m-rquez/a-falcon-who-chases-a-warlike-crane-can-only-hope-for-a-life-of-pain/) [Gabriel Garcia Marquez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabriel-garc-a-m-rquez/) > [Nature got it right with the cranes. They have been around since the Eocene, which ended 34 million years ago.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-shoumatoff/nature-got-it-right-with-the-cranes-they-have-been-around-since-the/) [Alex Shoumatoff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-shoumatoff/) > [Our large trading cities bear to me very nearly the aspect of monastic establishments in which the roar of the mill-wheel and the crane…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-ruskin/our-large-trading-cities-bear-to-me-very-nearly-the-aspect-of/) [John Ruskin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-ruskin/) > [Working in 3D I didn't experience much of a difference, except that the cameras are very big so they can't be moved around with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-frain/working-in-3d-i-didn-t-experience-much-of-a-difference-except-that/) [James Frain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-frain/) > [Everything was so designed by Hannibal to break down Will in the first season, until Will's sanity became questionable. It's so much easier to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bryan-fuller/everything-was-so-designed-by-hannibal-to-break-down-will-in-the/) [Bryan Fuller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bryan-fuller/) ## More by Bill McKibben > [I try not to be either optimistic or pessimistic. I try not to think about outcomes on that scale. My job, it seems to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/i-try-not-to-be-either-optimistic-or-pessimistic-i-try-not-to-think/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [Oil companies are radical because they're willing to alter the chemical composition of the atmosphere.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/oil-companies-are-radical-because-they-re-willing-to-alter-the/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [Whenever anyone challenges anything, the powers that be try to paint them as extremists or radicals or whatever. And I think that's actually nonsense.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/whenever-anyone-challenges-anything-the-powers-that-be-try-to-paint/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [My guess is that liberating the fossil fuel industry to frack anywhere they want will drive down the rate at which we're converting to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/my-guess-is-that-liberating-the-fossil-fuel-industry-to-frack/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [What makes us different? We're the creature that can decide not to do something that we are capable of doing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/what-makes-us-different-we-re-the-creature-that-can-decide-not-to-do/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [“The snow was coming down so hard. It looked like the flakes were hurrying to get out of the sky so the next ones…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/the-snow-was-coming-down-so-hard-it-looked-like-the-flakes-were/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [Most of the men and women who vote in Congress each year to continue subsidies have taken campaign donations from big energy companies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/most-of-the-men-and-women-who-vote-in-congress-each-year-to-continue/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [“I’ve sat behind a microphone and listened for decades as Americans learned to stop talking with each other and start shouting instead. No discussions,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/i-ve-sat-behind-a-microphone-and-listened-for-decades-as-americans/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [People in low-lying countries like Bangladesh with almost 140 million people who are managing to feed themselves, whose carbon emissions can't really be calculated…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/people-in-low-lying-countries-like-bangladesh-with-almost-140-million/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [We're putting more carbon into the atmosphere than the atmosphere can absorb. And everybody told us when we started, coz we knew nothing when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/we-re-putting-more-carbon-into-the-atmosphere-than-the-atmosphere-can/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [Everything that the administration has done has been counterproductive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/everything-that-the-administration-has-done-has-been-counterproductive/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [We use the web to help people organize in the flesh, and then we take the images of those events and put them back…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/we-use-the-web-to-help-people-organize-in-the-flesh-and-then-we-take/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [everyone knows, at some level, that the sharp line between "good weather" and "bad weather" is a fiction, that we need rain as surely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/everyone-knows-at-some-level-that-the-sharp-line-between-good-weather/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [The thing about global warming is that you can address it on a great number of levels - in fact you have to.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/the-thing-about-global-warming-is-that-you-can-address-it-on-a-great/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [Where people aren't as deeply reliant on fossil fuel as in the United States, it's far easier for them to imagine change on this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/where-people-aren-t-as-deeply-reliant-on-fossil-fuel-as-in-the-united/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) [Explore all 299 Bill McKibben quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) ## More Constant quotes > [Because after you've crossed some lines, you just keep crossing them. And there's no escaping from constant escape. Distracting ourselves. Avoiding confrontation. Getting past…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-palahniuk/because-after-you-ve-crossed-some-lines-you-just-keep-crossing-them/) [Chuck Palahniuk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-palahniuk/) > [This is, for an accomplished Latino, an accomplished African American, an accomplished anyone who disproves stereotypes, it's a constant battle in your life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sonia-sotomayor/this-is-for-an-accomplished-latino-an-accomplished-african-american/) [Sonia Sotomayor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sonia-sotomayor/) > [Me mum used to always have the radio on - even now she has it on in every room. Me girlfriend sort of blames…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-pilkington/me-mum-used-to-always-have-the-radio-on-even-now-she-has-it-on-in/) [Karl Pilkington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-pilkington/) > [Why is wisdom so fair? Why is beauty so wise? Because all else is temporary, while beauty and wisdom are the only real and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vera-nazarian/why-is-wisdom-so-fair-why-is-beauty-so-wise-because-all-else-is/) [Vera Nazarian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vera-nazarian/) > [The Only cure for nihilism is for liberal democratic societies - their electorates, their judiciary, and their political leadership- to insist that force is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ignatieff/the-only-cure-for-nihilism-is-for-liberal-democratic-societies-their/) [Michael Ignatieff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ignatieff/) > [The invention of gunpowder and the constant improvement of firearms are enough in themselves to show that the advance of civilization has done nothing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-von-clausewitz/the-invention-of-gunpowder-and-the-constant-improvement-of-firearms/) [Carl von Clausewitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-von-clausewitz/) > [As I grow through love, so grows my joy, ever more present, ever more constant.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-scott-peck/as-i-grow-through-love-so-grows-my-joy-ever-more-present-ever-more/) [M. Scott Peck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-scott-peck/) > [Life and death are illusions. We are in a constant state of transformation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alejandro-gonzalez-inarritu/life-and-death-are-illusions-we-are-in-a-constant-state-of/) [Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alejandro-gonzalez-inarritu/) > [People don't need sudden revelations. They get what they need when they need it, thought by thought by thought. It's a constant thing when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/byron-katie/people-don-t-need-sudden-revelations-they-get-what-they-need-when/) [Byron Katie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/byron-katie/) > [Fishing is a constant reminder of the democracy of life, of humility, and of human frailty. The forces of nature discriminate for no man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-hoover/fishing-is-a-constant-reminder-of-the-democracy-of-life-of-humility/) [Herbert Hoover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-hoover/) > [It's a constant man-ego-check going on in the streets, in this world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tupac-shakur/it-s-a-constant-man-ego-check-going-on-in-the-streets-in-this-world/) [Tupac Shakur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tupac-shakur/) > [Research is an organized method of trying to find out what you are going to do after you cannot do what you are doing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-kettering/research-is-an-organized-method-of-trying-to-find-out-what-you-are/) [Charles Kettering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-kettering/) > [I believe it's true that there's good and evil in everyone and it's a constant struggle to have your better angels prevail.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-friedkin/i-believe-it-s-true-that-there-s-good-and-evil-in-everyone-and-it-s-a/) [William Friedkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-friedkin/) > [You're a constant student, as a musician.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-bell/you-re-a-constant-student-as-a-musician/) [Joshua Bell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-bell/) > [Intimacy requires an ability to both merge and be separate, to come together and be apart, like oscillating on a giant swing from oneness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-sophia-kasl/intimacy-requires-an-ability-to-both-merge-and-be-separate-to-come/) [Charlotte Sophia Kasl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-sophia-kasl/) [Browse all 3,025 Constant quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/constant/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "... the constant flow of images undercuts the sense that there's actually something wrong with the world. 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