Shadows in the Sun Quotes

“Sensitivity to nature is not an innate attribute of indigenous peoples. It is a consequence of adaptive choices that have resulted in the development of highly specialized peripheral skills. but those choices in turn spring from a comprehensive view of nature and the universe in which man and woman are perceived as but elements inextricably linked to the whole. ”
― Wade Davis, Shadows in the Sun: Travels to Landscapes of Spirit and Desire

“A simple intuition, a single observation, can open vistas of unimagined potential. Once caught in the web of an idea, the researcher is happily doomed, for the outcome is always uncertain, and the resolution of the mystery may take years to unfold. Such was the case in my encounter with the magic toads of the Americas.”
― Wade Davis, Shadows in the Sun: Travels to Landscapes of Spirit and Desire

“When you get to Tatogga, or the cliffs of Cape Breton, or the Alberta badlands, pause long enough to find an open ridge where the sky seems to shelter the Earth, or a valley where horses shake manes that quiver like sheets of distant rain. Watch for pollen in the wind, an eagle circling, ice forming on a summer lake. When you find a place where the clouds and mist envelop the peaks, creating that special illusion of depth that grants meaning to all travel, tip your hat to those who have come before you, breaking trail.”
― Wade Davis, Shadows in the Sun: Travels to Landscapes of Spirit and Desire

“In three generations, a moment in time, we have contaminated the water, air, and soil, driven countless species to extinction, dammed the rivers, poisoned the rain, torn down the ancient forests, and ripped holes in the heavens. As Harvard biologist E. 0. Wilson reminds us, this century will be remembered not for its wars or technological advances but rather as the era in which men and women stood by and either passively endorsed or actively supported the massive destruction of biological diversity on the planet.”
― Wade Davis, Shadows in the Sun: Travels to Landscapes of Spirit and Desire

“There is a fire burning over the Earth, taking with it plants and animals, cultures, languages, ancient skills, and visionary wisdom. Quelling this flame and reinventing the poetry of diversity is the most important challenge of our times.”
― Wade Davis, Shadows in the Sun: Travels to Landscapes of Spirit and Desire

“The crisis has in fact been provoked by a relatively small subset of the human population,
a particular cultural tradition that over time has reduced the world to a mechanism, the planet to a commodity, with nature itself being seen as but an obstacle to overcome.”
― Wade Davis, Shadows in the Sun: Travels to Landscapes of Spirit and Desire