--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There's this idea of shifting baselines…" description: "\"There's this idea of shifting baselines. It was coined by a guy named Jeremy Jackson. It's the idea that every generation takes what it sees, and says,..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a81/elizabeth-kolbert-7570_generations_there-s-this-idea-of-shifting-baselines_944040.jpg" --- # There's this idea of shifting baselines. It was coined by… ![“There's this idea of shifting baselines. It was coined by a guy named Jeremy Jackson. It's the idea that every generation takes what it sees, and says, "Okay, well, that's the norm."” quote by Elizabeth Kolbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a81/elizabeth-kolbert-7570_generations_there-s-this-idea-of-shifting-baselines_944040.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a81/elizabeth-kolbert-7570_generations_there-s-this-idea-of-shifting-baselines_944040.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a81/elizabeth-kolbert-7570_generations_there-s-this-idea-of-shifting-baselines_944040.jpg) > “There's this idea of shifting baselines. It was coined by a guy named Jeremy Jackson. It's the idea that every generation takes what it sees, and says, "Okay, well, that's the norm."” [Elizabeth Kolbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-kolbert/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Each generation normalizes the environmental conditions they inherit, shifting perceptions of what is acceptable or normal. **In simple terms:** Generations accept worsening conditions as normal. Key Takeaway Question what’s truly normal. Themes environment generational perception baseline shift climate change Mood reflective concerned Type educational analytical When to use this quote - policy making - education - public awareness Key Concepts sociology environmental science Questions to Reflect On - How can we reset our environmental expectations? - What role does media play in shifting baselines? A Different Perspective Changing baselines can mask degradation. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Baselines](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/baselines-1634519/) [Baselines Coined](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/baselines-coined-1634518/) [Generation Takes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/generation-takes-1049852/) [Generations](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/generations/) [Guy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/guy/) [Idea Shifting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/idea-shifting-1634520/) [Ideas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ideas/) [Norm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/norm/) [Okay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/okay/) [Shifting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shifting/) [Shifting Baselines](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shifting-baselines-1634517/) [Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wells/) ## Related quotes > [I love the idea of shifting power away from institutions and toward individual creative people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-conte/i-love-the-idea-of-shifting-power-away-from-institutions-and-toward/) [Jack Conte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-conte/) > [“The phenomenon that Powell stumbled onto has a name: shifting baselines syndrome... 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This is how things are handed over in this world, so I don’t feel so bad if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/one-generation-takes-over-from-the-next-this-is-how-things-are-handed/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) > [I do get pissed off when I'm at some gay event, and there's a 25-year-old, and he has no idea who I am. 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What's important? Dealing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keanu-reeves/it-carried-quite-a-wallop-i-have-all-the-classic-symptoms-reflection/) [Keanu Reeves](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keanu-reeves/) > [When the mind's eye rests on objects illuminated by truth and reality, it understands and comprehends them, and functions intelligently; but when it turns…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/plato/when-the-mind-s-eye-rests-on-objects-illuminated-by-truth-and-reality/) [Plato](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/plato/) > [Watergate got us to think of leaders as mere mortals. America began to think of itself in a very different way - I would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-perlstein/watergate-got-us-to-think-of-leaders-as-mere-mortals-america-began-to/) [Rick Perlstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-perlstein/) > [We must remember that we are living in an age in which the ground is shifting and the foundations are shaking. I cannot answer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-d-laing/we-must-remember-that-we-are-living-in-an-age-in-which-the-ground-is/) [R. D. Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-d-laing/) > [How did you learn to drive like that?" Gwen yelled over the howl of six hundred horses. "Watching Jacks." She gunned the engine and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scott-speer/how-did-you-learn-to-drive-like-that-gwen-yelled-over-the-howl-of-six/) [Scott Speer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/scott-speer/) > [The term 'cost shifting,' as I use it, refers to those items in a university's budget that used to be reimbursed by the federal…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-term-cost-shifting-as-i-use-it-refers-to-those-items-in-a/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [... informed ignorance provides the natural state of mind for research scientists at the ever-shifting frontiers of knowledge. People who believe themselves ignorant of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-degrasse-tyson/informed-ignorance-provides-the-natural-state-of-mind-for-research/) [Neil deGrasse Tyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-degrasse-tyson/) ## More by Elizabeth Kolbert > [“The size of the greenhouse forcing is estimated, at this point, to be 2.5 w/m2. A miniature Christmas light gives off about four tenths…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-kolbert/the-size-of-the-greenhouse-forcing-is-estimated-at-this-point-to-be-2/) [Elizabeth Kolbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-kolbert/) > [You've got to do everything, everything's got to be pointing in the same direction and you've got to really turn this whole economic engine…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-kolbert/you-ve-got-to-do-everything-everything-s-got-to-be-pointing-in-the/) [Elizabeth Kolbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-kolbert/) > [Well in the scientific there is virtually no debate over certain things. For example, that we are changing the world. Humans are changing the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-kolbert/well-in-the-scientific-there-is-virtually-no-debate-over-certain/) [Elizabeth Kolbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-kolbert/) > [Humans will eventually become extinct. 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Or will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-kolbert/as-the-effects-of-global-warming-become-more-and-more-difficult-to/) [Elizabeth Kolbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-kolbert/) > [As best as can be determined, the world is now warmer than it has been at any point in the last two millennia, and,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-kolbert/as-best-as-can-be-determined-the-world-is-now-warmer-than-it-has-been/) [Elizabeth Kolbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-kolbert/) > [I traveled really to amazing places. I went to the Great Barrier Reef, I went to the Amazon, I went to the Andes, to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-kolbert/i-traveled-really-to-amazing-places-i-went-to-the-great-barrier-reef/) [Elizabeth Kolbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-kolbert/) > [“At the Biesbosch nature center, I met up with a water-ministry official named Eelke Turkstra. Turkstra runs a program called Ruimte voor de Rivier…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-kolbert/at-the-biesbosch-nature-center-i-met-up-with-a-water-ministry/) [Elizabeth Kolbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-kolbert/) > [“Darwin’s familiarity with human-caused extinction is also clear from On the Origin of Species. In one of the many passages in which he heaps…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-kolbert/darwin-s-familiarity-with-human-caused-extinction-is-also-clear-from/) [Elizabeth Kolbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-kolbert/) [Explore all 90 Elizabeth Kolbert quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-kolbert/) ## More Generations quotes > [I received a beautiful welcome to the world of music. 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