--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There are disasters that are entirely…" description: "\"There are disasters that are entirely manmade, but none that are entirely natural.\" — Rebecca Solnit" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/15e/rebecca-solnit-569_disaster_there-are-disasters-that-are-entirely-ma_922029.png" --- # There are disasters that are entirely manmade, but none… ![“There are disasters that are entirely manmade, but none that are entirely natural.” quote by Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/15e/rebecca-solnit-569_disaster_there-are-disasters-that-are-entirely-ma_922029.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/15e/rebecca-solnit-569_disaster_there-are-disasters-that-are-entirely-ma_922029.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/15e/rebecca-solnit-569_disaster_there-are-disasters-that-are-entirely-ma_922029.png) > “There are disasters that are entirely manmade, but none that are entirely natural.” [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Human-caused catastrophes dominate, yet we sometimes attribute events to nature alone. **In simple terms:** Most disasters are human-made, not purely natural. Key Takeaway Recognize human impact on crises. Themes environment responsibility human agency risk Mood urgent concerned analytical Type explanatory activist When to use this quote - urban planning - policy making - disaster preparedness - environmental activism Key Concepts anthropogenic risk climate change systemic failure Questions to Reflect On - What responsibilities do we bear for preventing disasters? - How can we shift narratives from natural to human causes? A Different Perspective Complex causes can be hard to untangle. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Disaster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/disaster/) [Disasters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/disasters/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) ## Related quotes > [“Every established order tends to make its own entirely arbitrary system seem entirely natural.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-bourdieu/every-established-order-tends-to-make-its-own-entirely-arbitrary/) [Pierre Bourdieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-bourdieu/) > [I was entirely natural and in many ways I have the same attitude now. I don't mourn the loss of my youth because I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/koo-stark/i-was-entirely-natural-and-in-many-ways-i-have-the-same-attitude-now/) [Koo Stark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/koo-stark/) > [I feel often that we don't have the right language to talk about emotions in disasters. Everyone is on edge, of course, but it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/i-feel-often-that-we-don-t-have-the-right-language-to-talk-about/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [We have a real role in how our own collective lives, our nation, and our world and society turn out. Seizing those opportunities is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/we-have-a-real-role-in-how-our-own-collective-lives-our-nation-and/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [“."Katrina was an extreme version of what goes on in many disasters,wherein how you behave depends on whether you think your neighbors or fellow…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/katrina-was-an-extreme-version-of-what-goes-on-in-many-disasters/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [All disasters stem from us. Why is there a war? Perhaps because now and then I might be inclined to snap at my neighbour.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/etty-hillesum/all-disasters-stem-from-us-why-is-there-a-war-perhaps-because-now-and/) [Etty Hillesum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/etty-hillesum/) > [But ah! disasters have their use; And life might e'en be too sunshiny...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-stuart-calverley/but-ah-disasters-have-their-use-and-life-might-e-en-be-too-sunshiny/) [Charles Stuart Calverley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-stuart-calverley/) > [Disasters have no mercy hours where they stop visiting the people; for them, all hours are favourite and legitimate to visit!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mehmet-murat-ildan/disasters-have-no-mercy-hours-where-they-stop-visiting-the-people-for/) [Mehmet Murat Ildan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mehmet-murat-ildan/) > [Live disasters are wonderful attractions when you're safe on the other side of them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-paretsky/live-disasters-are-wonderful-attractions-when-you-re-safe-on-the/) [Sara Paretsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-paretsky/) > [i am a limitless series of natural disasters and all of these disasters have been unnaturally repressed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathy-acker/i-am-a-limitless-series-of-natural-disasters-and-all-of-these/) [Kathy Acker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathy-acker/) > [When you see natural disasters caught on film you realize how well they had been imagined by Hollywood for such a long time. It's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jared-harris/when-you-see-natural-disasters-caught-on-film-you-realize-how-well/) [Jared Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jared-harris/) > [The environmental movement, like all political processes, reacts best to disasters. But these are very slow, very gradual disasters in the making.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-danson/the-environmental-movement-like-all-political-processes-reacts-best/) [Ted Danson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-danson/) > [Disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, floods, oil spills and radioactive fallout cause massive death of people, pigs, bats and birds. These disasters also…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-stamets/disasters-such-as-earthquakes-tsunamis-volcanoes-floods-oil-spills/) [Paul Stamets](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-stamets/) > [Birth: The first and direst of all disasters.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ambrose-bierce/birth-the-first-and-direst-of-all-disasters/) [Ambrose Bierce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ambrose-bierce/) > [Even disasters -- there are always disasters when you travel -- can be turned into adventures.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilyn-french/even-disasters-there-are-always-disasters-when-you-travel-can-be/) [Marilyn French](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilyn-french/) ## More by Rebecca Solnit > [“Georgia O’Keeffe moved to rural New Mexico, from which she would sign her letters to the people she loved, “from the faraway nearby.” It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/georgia-o-keeffe-moved-to-rural-new-mexico-from-which-she-would-sign/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [Joy doesn't betray but sustains activism. And when you face a politics that aspires to make you fearful, alienated and isolated, joy is a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/joy-doesn-t-betray-but-sustains-activism-and-when-you-face-a-politics/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [“To love someone is to put yourself in their place, we say, which is to put ourself in their story, or figure out how…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/to-love-someone-is-to-put-yourself-in-their-place-we-say-which-is-to/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [“People have always been good at imagining the end of the world, which is much easier to picture than the strange sidelong paths of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/people-have-always-been-good-at-imagining-the-end-of-the-world-which/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [“Whose maps are we trying to read? And what are we trying to draw? It's so common to live in a place without truly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/whose-maps-are-we-trying-to-read-and-what-are-we-trying-to-draw-it-s/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [“I was being cured of soldiering on endlessly: my job was now to be still, which had become almost easy at last.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/i-was-being-cured-of-soldiering-on-endlessly-my-job-was-now-to-be/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [In the aftermath of 9/11, people had not a good time, but a deep, profound, rousing time, woke up from their ennui and isolation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/in-the-aftermath-of-9-11-people-had-not-a-good-time-but-a-deep/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [“I wonder now about Demeter and Persephone. Maybe Persephone was glad to run off with the king of death to his underground realm, maybe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/i-wonder-now-about-demeter-and-persephone-maybe-persephone-was-glad/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [ \[In mountaineering, if\] we look for private experience rather than public history, even getting to the top becomes an optional narrative rather than the… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/in-mountaineering-if-we-look-for-private-experience-rather-than/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [For me, being in a car or on an airplane is like being in limbo. It's this dead zone between two places. But to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/for-me-being-in-a-car-or-on-an-airplane-is-like-being-in-limbo-it-s/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [“How do you calculate upon the unforeseen? It seems to be an art of recognizing the role of the unforeseen, of keeping your balance…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/how-do-you-calculate-upon-the-unforeseen-it-seems-to-be-an-art-of/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [Walking shares with making and working that crucial element of engagement of the body and the mind with the world, of knowing the world…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/walking-shares-with-making-and-working-that-crucial-element-of/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [“Marriage equality is a threat: to inequality. It’s a boon to everyone who values and benefits from equality. It’s for all of us.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/marriage-equality-is-a-threat-to-inequality-it-s-a-boon-to-everyone/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [“Mountaineering is always spoken of as though summiting is conquest, but as you get higher, the world gets bigger, and you feel smaller in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/mountaineering-is-always-spoken-of-as-though-summiting-is-conquest/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [“A procession is a participants' journey, while a parade is a performance with an audience.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/a-procession-is-a-participants-journey-while-a-parade-is-a/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) [Explore all 469 Rebecca Solnit quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) ## More Disaster quotes > [Public infrastructure around the world is facing unprecedented stress, with hurricanes, cyclones, floods and forest fires all increasing in frequency and intensity. It's easy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naomi-klein/public-infrastructure-around-the-world-is-facing-unprecedented-stress/) [Naomi Klein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naomi-klein/) > [Real people speak in my books about the main events of the age, such as the war, the Chernobyl disaster, and the downfall of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/svetlana-alexievich/real-people-speak-in-my-books-about-the-main-events-of-the-age-such/) [Svetlana Alexievich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/svetlana-alexievich/) > [One of the undervalued contributors to Trump's stunning 2016 victory was the masterful performance Pence had in his debate against Hillary Clinton running mate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mollie-hemingway/one-of-the-undervalued-contributors-to-trump-s-stunning-2016-victory/) [Mollie Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mollie-hemingway/) > [You know, we can't beat ISIS. We can't do anything. We can't take care of our vets. We can't have good health care. "Obama…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-trump/you-know-we-can-t-beat-isis-we-can-t-do-anything-we-can-t-take-care/) [Donald Trump](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-trump/) > [My mind shrank from the menace sweeping down on us, as children's do from belief in death and misfortune, vainly clinging to the fancy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-pankhurst/my-mind-shrank-from-the-menace-sweeping-down-on-us-as-children-s-do/) [Sylvia Pankhurst](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-pankhurst/) > [The compensations of calamity are made apparent to the understanding also, after long intervals of time. A fever, a mutilation, a cruel disappointment, a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/the-compensations-of-calamity-are-made-apparent-to-the-understanding/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [You can't have people making decisions about the future of the world who are scientifically illiterate. That's a recipe for disaster. And I don't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-degrasse-tyson/you-can-t-have-people-making-decisions-about-the-future-of-the-world/) [Neil deGrasse Tyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-degrasse-tyson/) > [“She was—of course—perfectly normal— quiet and polite and reasonably intelligent and...normal and self destructive and lonely and terrified of every thing And she loved…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tah-the-trickster/she-was-of-course-perfectly-normal-quiet-and-polite-and-reasonably/) Tah the Trickster > [Obviously, it's my goal to be the top scorer in the Bundesliga, but it wouldn't be a disaster if I didn't achieve that.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mario-gomez/obviously-it-s-my-goal-to-be-the-top-scorer-in-the-bundesliga-but-it/) [Mario Gomez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mario-gomez/) > [Yes, life in Chechnya so far looks more like a life after a natural disaster.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-putin/yes-life-in-chechnya-so-far-looks-more-like-a-life-after-a-natural/) [Vladimir Putin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-putin/) > [Even disasters -- there are always disasters when you travel -- can be turned into adventures.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilyn-french/even-disasters-there-are-always-disasters-when-you-travel-can-be/) [Marilyn French](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilyn-french/) > [We are always just one successful terrorist attack away from a nuclear disaster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fred-thompson/we-are-always-just-one-successful-terrorist-attack-away-from-a/) [Fred Thompson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fred-thompson/) > [WHANGDEPOOTENAWAH, n. In the Ojibwa tongue, disaster; an unexpected affliction that strikes hard.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ambrose-bierce/whangdepootenawah-n-in-the-ojibwa-tongue-disaster-an-unexpected/) [Ambrose Bierce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ambrose-bierce/) > [Architects mostly work for privileged people, people who have money and power, Power and money are invisible, so people hire us to visualize their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shigeru-ban/architects-mostly-work-for-privileged-people-people-who-have-money/) [Shigeru Ban](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shigeru-ban/) > [The only aspect of our travels that is interesting to others is disaster.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-gellmanmartha-gellman/the-only-aspect-of-our-travels-that-is-interesting-to-others-is/) Martha GellmanMartha Gellman [Browse all 2,239 Disaster quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/disaster/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "There are disasters that are entirely manmade, but none that are entirely natural.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Rebecca Solnit" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/there-are-disasters-that-are-entirely-manmade-but-none-that-are/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Disaster" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/there-are-disasters-that-are-entirely-manmade-but-none-that-are/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/15e/rebecca-solnit-569_disaster_there-are-disasters-that-are-entirely-ma_922029.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/15e/rebecca-solnit-569_disaster_there-are-disasters-that-are-entirely-ma_922029.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/15e/rebecca-solnit-569_disaster_there-are-disasters-that-are-entirely-ma_922029.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“There are disasters that are entirely manmade, but none that are entirely natural.” — Rebecca Solnit", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Rebecca Solnit", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "There are disasters that are entirely...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/there-are-disasters-that-are-entirely-manmade-but-none-that-are/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/there-are-disasters-that-are-entirely-manmade-but-none-that-are/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```