A letter from Lola Jones in this morning’s Age has this quote:
We don’t have to save the world. The world is big enough to look after itself. What we have to be concerned about is whether or not the world we live in will be capable of sustaining us in it.
— Douglas Adams, May 2001 (Video)
I don’t think I’ve ever blogged about this, but this is a view I’ve had for a long time.
It comes down to this: the good news is nothing we can do will destroy the planet. It’s just a big rock. It will survive. The bad news is we can do plenty to make it bloody miserable, or even impossible, for us humans to survive.
5 replies on “DNA quote”
Ziggy Switkowski has also had a bit to say around this over time. We’ll have to learn how to live with hotter weather (we in Perth are already experiencing that!) but also recognising the need “not to shit in your own nest”. If your home is full of crap you’ve put there, it isn’t such a nice place to live but there is something you can do about it and there is likely to be a cost for doing so.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,24139288-17803,00.html
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,24415568-7583,00.html
Interesting, and I always thought of Ziggy Switkowski as a tosser… maybe not a complete one then :)
Have only skimmed the articles, but bear in mind he’s coming from the point of view of wanting to push nuclear power. He has a point in that switching from coal to nuclear would reduce GHG emissions, but of course there are other reasons why people don’t like nuclear.
… and the Vogons could destroy the earth in a second leaving not a trace.
Plus I believe it is towel day soon.
Oooo towel day – I went to see the movie with a towel over my shoulder. My husband said “are you nuts?” Yeah, pretty much Tim :P
Great quote, honestly. Wiki entry about his environmental activism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Adams#Environmental_activism