Writers want recognition, audience, some corroboration that all those hours at the desk and in daydreams add up to something in the esteem of others.

I'm really interested in culture because it is such a powerful human force, particularly in America where we think it's all about the individual.

I think you have to live inside your contradictions and find a way to accept that that's the human condition - to be forced to live in contradiction.

Once you realize that human actions affect every bit of earth and sky, you realize that the environment isn't just what surrounds us - it's all one whole.

I do think environmental writers need to be forward thinking, not just lamenting our losses. We do need to lament; in some ways it's important to be the vessels for grief for all that's being lost on our planet. But we also need to be forward thinking.

I like the dance between sustained focus and digression that the long poem invites. A controlling metaphor helps to sustain the long poem.

The countries that are the least responsible for causing climate change are paying the heaviest price.