Natural world Quote by Jon Mooallem
““The phenomenon that Powell stumbled onto has a name: shifting baselines syndrome... Every generation of scientist accepts the oceans as it inherits them... when the next generation of scientists start their careers, they don't see the oceans as depleted; that depleted condition becomes their baseline, against which they'll measure any subsequent losses in their lifetimes... All of us adopt the natural world we encounter in childhood as our psychological baseline -- an expectation of how things should be --and gauge the changes we see against that norm... It also can leave us , the public, unsure how to feel about conservation's supposedly feel-good success stories.””
About This Quote
Source Article: “Shifting Baselines” in The Atlantic, 2015
Each generation accepts the degraded state of nature as normal, making it hard to recognize or act on environmental loss.
In simple terms: People see a worse world as normal.
Key Takeaway
Raise awareness of historical baselines.
Themes
environment
generational perception
conservation
Mood
concerned
urgent
Type
environmental
educational
When to use this quote
- education
- policy making
- media reporting
- community activism
Key Concepts
baseline syndrome
psychological adaptation
environmental ethics
Questions to Reflect On
- What baseline do you assume is natural?
- How can we teach true historical context?
A Different Perspective
People may become complacent if they think the current state is the norm.
![“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)
