Dan Riskin > Quotes

“Our instincts weren't built to handle the kind of power our species wields over the planet, nature has been playing rough with us for so long, maybe it is no surprise we are being so rough with her now.”
― Dan Riskin, Mother Nature Is Trying to Kill You: A Lively Tour Through the Dark Side of the Natural World

“...nature is so immoral, vulgar, and downright wicked we can't possibly use nature's behaviors to set rules for ourselves.”
― Dan Riskin, Mother Nature Is Trying to Kill You: A Lively Tour Through the Dark Side of the Natural World

“People get their benefits as individuals but we all pay the cost together, same as the doomed mice of Gough island. The problem is not just fossil fuel emissions either, humans are killing rhinos, elephants, gorillas, and countless other endangered animals for no reason other than to make a few bucks. Put another way, those of us in the Western world have allowed things to get so unfair that while I stop at a Star Bucks drive-through on the way home to get a fifth of my daily required calories from a sugar-filled ice drink, someone on the other side of the world is eating an endangered fruit bat because they have no other way to get their protein. That is where acting naturally has gotten humans so far.”
― Dan Riskin

“...pretending that nature is 100% benign requires either ignorance or willful disbelief.

Pollinators have basically become flying penises...under the influence of plant DNA.”
― Dan Riskin, Mother Nature Is Trying to Kill You: A Lively Tour Through the Dark Side of the Natural World