>>To
change quote, press Reload button on browser<<
QUOTE
OF THE (past and new) MILLENIUM:
A New Story
--from
Niles Eldredge, Dominion
The
People came from the earth and were linked through the recesses
of time with all other creatures. They were kin of the bacteria,
the microscopic ones, the fungi, the plants, and the other animals.
And they were nearest to the Apes: the orangutans, gorillas,
and chimpanzees.
The
People, though, became self-aware and through time came to devise
artifacts and customs to help them live. In time, they left
their ancestral home and spread throughout the world. Everywhere
they went they lived in and were dependent upon their natural
surroundings, which they acknowledged openly.
Then
the People came to control their own food supply. Everything
changed. No longer at home in the local natural world, the People
now lived in inner-directed settlements. They invented gods
and declared dominion over all the natural world: the rivers
and seas, the forests, the plains, the deserts, and the swamps.
The
People prospered and their knowledge grew. But soon their numbers
grew so great that they saw they had not, after all, truly left
the natural world. They saw a limit to the natural resources,
and to the production of their own food. They came to see that
poisons of the waters, soils, and air threatened them. And they
understood that the other creatures--their kin--were vital to
their own survival.
The
People acknowledged their true past and their newfound problems.
They decided to use the very same tool that had brought them
along so far: their cleverness. They saw that all creatures--including
the People--face limitations and depend on the natural world.
The
People decided to curb their population numbers. They determined
to curtail environmental damage and the loss of other species.
They decided to conserve the world's remaining ecosystems. And
they embraced sustainable development, matching economic growth
to the carrying capacities of their surroundings.
The
People lived. And it was very good.
