Ecosystem Quotes

“Problem is (follow me closely here, the science is pretty complicated), if I cut a hole in the Hab, the air won't stay inside anymore.”
― Andy Weir, The Martian

“The most dangerous worldview is the worldview of those have not viewed the world.”
― Alexander von Humboldt, Works of Alexander von Humboldt

“There is a deep interconnectedness of all life on earth, from the tiniest organisms, to the largest ecosystems, and absolutely between each person.”
― Bryant McGill, Voice of Reason

“Mayflower-Plymouth is not only a company, it's also an ecosystem.”
― Hendrith Vanlon Smith Jr

“It's interesting that economy and ecosystem share a root prefix — eco; which is defined as relating to ecology. And ecology is defined as dealing with the relations of organisms to one another and to their surroundings. Swap out the word organisms for the word businesses and you can see how economies and ecosystems have a lot in common.”
― Hendrith Vanlon Smith Jr, CEO of Mayflower-Plymouth

“That's it on the maps; nature doesn't acknowledge frontiers. Neither can ecology... Where to begin to understand what we've only got a computerspeak label for, ecosystem? Where to decide it begins.”
― Nadine Gordimer, Get a Life

“The same way trees add value to the natural environment, businesses should add value to the natural environment. It's not about just co-existing; it's about co-thriving.”
― Hendrith Vanlon Smith Jr, CEO of Mayflower-Plymouth

“Respect for the environment, and respect for what was naturally occurring in nature: that was the bedrock of all original peoples. Harmony, coexistence, not conquest and conquer.”
― L.A. Banks, Bad Blood

“The idea is that businesses that are plugged into the Mayflower-Plymouth ecosystem should have competitive and comparative advantages over non members in their respective markets.”
― Hendrith Vanlon Smith Jr, CEO of Mayflower-Plymouth

“While it is relatively easy to recognize the perennial grasses and seed-eating sparrows as characteristic of meadows, the ecosystems exist in their fullest sense underground. What we see aboveground is only the outer margin of an ecosystem that explodes in intricacy and life below.”
― Amy Seidl, Early Spring: An Ecologist and Her Children Wake to a Warming World

“Pearl saltbush
Meaning: My hidden worth
Maireana sedifolia | South Australia and Northern Territory

Common in deserts and salty environments, this low shrub creates a fascinating ecosystem of almost hidden treasures: geckoes, fairy wrens, fungi and lichen colonies. Drought-tolerant, with silvery grey evergreen foliage that forms a dense groundcover that is fire-retardant.”
― Holly Ringland, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart

“In natural ecosystems, the way the waste of one is turned into a resource for another is through systematic value added consumption. In human economic systems, waste is only a problem insofaras systematic value added consumption has not been holistically applied. So, the way to prevent waste is to have it exist in a system where the waste of one is viewed as a product for value added consumption by another. The way to prevent waste is to consider full lifecycle consumption during the design of materials and products and then ensure that for everything produced there exists a mechanism of value added consumption and an audience which will perceive the consumption of it as adding value to their lives. It must be value added consumption because people only voluntarily consume that which they deem to add value to their own lives. And it must be systematic because no amount of accumulated waste is acceptable. When the consumption of ones waste is perceived to be a value add to others, and those others are able to efficiently consume it, a system will organically emerge whereby in essence, the concept of waste is nullified.”
― Hendrith Vanlon Smith Jr, CEO of Mayflower-Plymouth, Business Essentials

“Increasingly, we will be faced with a choice: whether to keep the oceans for wild fish or farmed fish. Farming domesticated species in close proximity with wild fish will mean that domesticated fish always win. Nobody in the world of policy appears to be asking what is best for society, wild fish or farmed fish. And what sort of farmed fish, anyway? Were this question to be asked, and answered honestly, we might find that our interests lay in prioritizing wild fish and making their ecosystems more productive by leaving them alone enough of the time.”
― Charles Clover, The End of the Line: How Overfishing Is Changing the World and What We Eat

“In the summer, as the heavy moths beat their powdery wings against his window screen, he wrote to her about the island, describing how the berry bushes were laden with fruit, and where the most succulent oysters could be found, and the way the bioluminescence lit the lapping waves and filled the ocean with twinkling planktonic forms that mirrored the stars in the sky. He translated the vast, wild, Pacific Rim ecosystem into poetry and pixels, transmitting them all the way to her small monitor in Manhattan, where she waited, leaning into the screen, eagerly reading each word with her heart in her throat, because by then she was deeply in love.”
― Ruth Ozeki, A Tale for the Time Being

“A large tree cannnot sustain itself without the support of an ecosystem of various sized life forms. In the same way, large companies cannot sustain themselves without an ecosystem of various sized companies.”
― Hendrith Vanlon Smith Jr

“So much world all at once--how it rustles and bustles!
Moraines and morays and morasses and mussels,
the flame, the flamingo, the flounder, the feather--”
― Wisława Szymborska, View with a Grain of Sand: Selected Poems

“Ignorance is bliss. But one day, people will realise the sheer scale of destruction humans do on Earth. We can all do our part to improve what we can.”
― Torron-Lee Dewar

“The bushes parted and a man stepped out. Gytha could see at once this was no charcoal burner. His fine red leather gloves and boots were not fashioned by any cordwainer in these parts. Nor was he a man who needed to hunt to fill his family's hungry bellies, for the flash from the gold thread on the trim of his tunic was enough to alert any quarry for miles around.”
― Karen Maitland, The Gallows Curse

“If it wants to listen to the trees, it is best to be in them, it reminds itself, not out in the open fringes.”
― Elizabeth-Jane Burnett, The Grassling

“The sure way of sustainable management of the ecosystem is to make human kind environmental stewards.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita

“Green is more valuable and beautiful, and a positive person notices it everywhere. You will continue to grow as long as your thoughts are green.”
― Shree Shambav, Twenty + One - 21 Short Stories

“May it fill your heart with joy to extend your family to include every insect, native plant or animal and fluffy bird that finds sanctuary there with you.”
― Mary Reynolds

“Campaigners, chefs, and food writers rail against “intensive farming,” and the harm it does to us and our world. But the problem is not the adjective. It’s the noun.”
― George Monbiot, Regenesis: Feeding the World Without Devouring the Planet

“Like any ecosystem, a modern economy cannot survive without recycling. Just as animals and plants are continually recycling the oxygen and carbon dioxide that the other provides, so too must workers recycle their wages by spending them in shops and businesses recycle their revenues by spending them on salaries if both are to survive. And just as in our ecosystems, in which a failure of recycling leads to desertification, so when recycling breaks down in the economy we end up with a crisis that results in devastating poverty and deprivation.”
― Yanis Varoufakis, Talking to My Daughter About the Economy: or, How Capitalism Works—and How It Fails

“When each person planted a single tree, together, they created a forest. When each person raised their voice, together, they created a movement.”
― Rebel Girls, Dr. Wangari Maathai Plants a Forest

“In the depths of decaying garbage dumps is the sorrow of discarded waste, forgotten by society, choking the life out of our vibrant ecosystems, a negligence upon our environment. The grim realities of our polluted world somehow shows the strength of nature’s resilience, blooming amidst the chaos and reminding us of the potential for renewal if we choose to act right. Our actions, no matter how small, have the power to impact the environment and those around us. We are all accountable as caretakers of this planet we live in. It is our responsibility to preserve earth’s natural beauty and the delicate balance of life that keeps us all alive.”
― Chinonye J. Chidolue

“La Natura som nosaltres. No és tan sols la nostra llar, un paisatge bonic o la nostra font de recursos i d'oci. Som Natura. Existim gràcies a i en una llarguíssima i antiquíssima cadena d'equilibris que han superat milers d'esdeveniments atzarosos.”
― Alex Nogués, Feu que les vostres accions reflecteixin les vostres paraules

“On és la coherència dels adults? La coherència podria salvar-nos. Que les teves accions reflecteixin les teves paraules. Que les teves accions no facin plorar els infants, de nit. Aconseguir-ho no sembla impossible. Intentem-ho, sense defallir; insistint, una vegada i una altra, en les coses en les quals creiem.”
― Alex Nogués, Feu que les vostres accions reflecteixin les vostres paraules

“Des del punt de vista de la Natura, no hi ha drama. En una batalla oberta de l'ésser humà contra la Natura salvatge, aquesta darrera guanyarà. La vida sempre s'obre camí davant totes les adversitats. No estem davant la fi de la vida. Estem davant la perillosa fi del món que coneixem i al qual ens hem adaptat al llarg de les últimes desenes de milers d'anys.”
― Alex Nogués, Feu que les vostres accions reflecteixin les vostres paraules

“Finn, it's high school. It's an ecosystem, and you just stot right to the top of the food pyramid!”
― Laura Nowlin, If Only I Had Told Her