The web of life is unraveling more swiftly than at any time since the extinction of the dinosaurs, sixty-five million years ago.
Even here in the presence of water and stone I cannot forget these ruinous facts. Even here I am hounded by what I have seen — the forests cut down, the land worn out, animals flattened on roads, trash piling against fences, oil slicks in puddles, smoke sullying the air.
— Scott Russell Sanders, Writing from the Center