Hannah Teter Quotes

God gave us the earth. We have dominion over the plants, the animals, the seas…. God said “Earth is yours. Take it. Rape it. It’s yours.”

I realize the answer is not to create wilderness and walk away.

The Earth does not belong to us: we belong to the Earth.

The human brain now holds the key to our future. We have to recall the image of the planet from outer space: a single entity in which air, water, and continents are interconnected. That is our home.

Politicians need a better understanding of global ecology. We need to be freed from our species-specific arrogance. No evidence exists that we are 'chosen', the unique species for which all the others were made. Nor are we the most important one because we are so numerous, powerful and dangerous.

I think it's really important that we understand that we share this world and we're connected to it.

Humans merely share the earth. We can only protect the land, not own it.

For how many people do you think might yet stand on this planet before the sun grows cold? That's the responsibility we hold in our hands.

The further human society drifts away from nature, the less we understand interdependence.

Upon the creatures we have made, we are, ourselves, at last, dependent.

We are evolutionary descendents of this marvellous panoply of life. And what that says unequivocally is we have an utter total obligation to make sure we have an environment that not only is good for us but is good for all living organisms.

We must recognize that we're all part of a web of life around the world. Anytime you extinguish a species, the consequences are serious.

In a fragile environment, we need to be aware of ourselves as members of a uniquely powerful species living among other species who are quite as interesting as we are but vulnerable to us because we are cleverer in more destructive ways.

Because we're not in harmony with the environment, we're destroying the environment that supports us.

We have to understand in value what the services of nature are so that we can understand that degrading them is an irreplaceable resource that no amount of money or human ingenuity can replace.

If we do not permit the earth to produce beauty and joy, it will in the end not produce food, either.

Each generation takes the earth as trustees. We ought to bequeath to posterity as many forests and orchards as we have exhausted and consumed.

If, in our haste to 'progress,' the economics of ecology are disregarded by citizens and policy makers alike, the result will be an ugly America. We cannot afford an America where expedience tramples upon esthetics and development decisions are made with an eye only on the present.

Species conversation is beyond a doubt an issue that truly matters to the American public.

I'm a radical environmentalist; I think the sooner we asphyxiate in our own filth, the better. The world will do better without us. Maybe some fuzzy animals will go with us, but there'll be plenty of other animals, and they'll be back.

As a nation, we owe a great deal to the National Audubon Society, one of our most distinguished and important environmental organizations, and all those who work to protect America's open land and waterways.

Genetic design is something we can use to fight the lack of sustainability we humans are forcing on the earth's environment.

I really wonder what gives us the right to wreck this poor planet of ours.

It is not oil or the environment, it is oil and the environment. We are living in the same world. We are not enemies.

The heart of our relationship, this natural environment that has blessed us really all along the west coast of North America, on both sides of the border we've realized that this incredible natural wealth comes with a price.