Anthropocene
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One morning, the Wumps were awakened by a far-off humming sound. It seemed to be coming from somewhere above, and as the humming grew into a heavy roar, the sleepy-eyed Wumps crept through the trees for a peek at the sky. Zooming straight for the earth came a great flock of potbellied monsters, with tails and fins, spitting fire and shooting out streaks of black smoke.
—The Wump World
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If there is danger in the human trajectory, it is not so much in the survival of our own species, as in the fulfillment of the ultimate irony of organic evolution: that in the instant of achieving self-understanding through the mind of man, life has doomed its most beautiful creations.
—E.O. Wilson
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With the capacity to represent the world in signs and symbols comes the capacity to change it, which, as it happens, is also the capacity to destroy it.
—Elizabeth Kolbert
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We have created a world of extraordinary wonders and unparalleled horror.
—David Suzuki
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It's hard to love
There's so much to hate
Hanging on to hope
When there is no hope to speak of
And the wounded skies above
Say it's much too late
So maybe we should all
Be praying for time
—George Michael
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One come a day
the water will run
No man will stand for things
that he had done
Hurrah
And the water will run
—Jane’s Addiction
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People gonna talk about A.D.
—Misfits
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So much trouble in the world.
—Bob Marley
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The wild, cruel beast is not behind the bars of the cage. He is in front of it.
—Axel Munthe
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It’s in our nature.
—José González
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I yam what I yam.
—Popeye
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I tell you this
to break your heart,
by which I mean only
that it break open
and never close again
to the rest of the world.
—Mary Oliver
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This world is only
gonna break your heart.
—Chris Isaak
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We are not the only ones who matter.
—Andreas Malm
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My heart is moved by all I cannot save: so much has been destroyed. I have to cast my lot with those who, age after age, perversely, with no extraordinary power, reconstitute the world.
—Adrienne Rich
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And the Lion is gone,
And the Red Wolf is gone.
—Don Edwards
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What a world, what a world…
—Wizard of Oz
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Note: Discretion and self-care advised in exploring some of the following.
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Poem: The World Is Too Much With Us
Poem: A Brief History of the Passenger Pigeon
Poem: Lines from the Reports of the Investigative Committees
Poem: The Peace of Wild Things
A tiny set of genetic variations
This Canadian lake should mark the start of the Anthropocene
The people cheering for humanity’s end
Would human extinction be a tragedy?
Why so much is going wrong at the same time
The unseen toll of a warming world
The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible