Environmental Uncertainty Quotes

I think humanity is not wise enough to know what genotype or somatype is going to be the most successful or the most fit - simply because we're not fully in control of our environment.

Spiritual stagnation ensues when man's environment becomes unpredictable or when his inner life is made wholly predictable.

They who plough the sea do not carry the winds in their hands.

No one knows the diversity in the world, not even to the nearest order of magnitude. ... We don't know for sure how many species there are, where they can be found or how fast they're disappearing. It's like having astronomy without knowing where the stars are.

The second reason to abandon environmental religion is more pressing. Religions think they know it all, but the unhappy truth of the environment is that we are dealing with incredibly complex, evolving systems, and we usually are not certain how best to proceed. Those who are certain are demonstrating their personality type, or their belief system, not the state of their knowledge.

Our seasons have no fixed returns, Without our will they come and go; At noon our sudden summer burns, Ere sunset all is snow.

The problem is we don't know what the climate is doing. We thought we knew 20 years ago. That led to some alarmist books - mine included - because it looked clear-cut, but it hasn't happened.

Civilization exists by geological consent, subject to change without notice.

We simply don't know yet what's going to happen to the carbon in the atmosphere.

We have no idea what's natural and what's man made. [...] There is no fingerprint of human-caused warming.

Each system is trying to anticipate change in the environment.