“The evidence of declining songbird populations was strong, but the direct link to pesticide spraying had not been well established. She drew on the kind of intuition that is hardwired in many humans but has been replaced by the mechanistic framework that has dominated modern times. Early humans learned to rely on clues in nature and even incorporated them directly into early warning systems. The health of other species, their calls and migration patterns, were all sources of information, and they were used to help direct human behaviour.”