Aimed at a diverse audience of quotation lovers, researchers, scholars, and speech writers, this excellent resource is both practical and inspirational in its overview of humankind's decidedly mixed treatment of the natural world.

Barbara K. Rodes, who along with Rice Odell compiled this awesome collection of 3,700 quotations, concurs with William V. Shannon who stated: "The environment is not a crisis or a problem at all. Rather, it is a context in which all crises and problems have to be analyzed."

The quotations have been organized in143 categories from Acid Rain to Zoos. Hats off to Rodes and Odell for presenting a variety of formats, including proverbs, poems, speeches, scientific papers, philosophical works and bumper stickers. Here is a brief sampler from the paperback:

  • "The first act of awe when man was struck with the beauty or wonder of nature was the­­ first spiritual experience."
    — Henryk Skolimowski, Eco-Philosophy, 1981
  • "The bicycle is a vehicle for revolution. It can destroy the tyranny of the automobile as effectively as the printing press brought down despots of flesh and blood.
    — Daniel Behrman, The Man Who Loved Bicycles, 1973
  • "If you want to see birds, you must have birds in your heart."
    — John Burroughs, Outside, December, 1977
  • "The long fight to save wild beauty represents democracy at its best. It requires citizens to practice the hardest of virtues — self-restraint."
    — Edwin Way Teale, Circle of the Seasons, 1953