So important are insects and other land-dwelling arthropods that if all were to disappear, humanity probably could not last more than a few months.

Sometimes a concept is baffling not because it is profound but because it is wrong.

I doubt that most people with short-term thinking love the natural world enough to save it.

If all mankind were to disappear, the world would regenerate back to the rich state of equilibrium that existed ten thousand years ago. If insects were to vanish, the environment would collapse into chaos.

The time has come to link ecology to economic and human development. When you have seen one ant, one bird, one tree, you have not seen them all. What is happening to the rain forests of Madagascar and Brazil will affect us all.

We are not afraid of predators, we're transfixed by them, prone to weave stories and fables and chatter endlessly about them, because fascination creates preparedness, and preparedness, survival. In a deeply tribal way, we love our monsters.

I grew up as a Southern Baptist with strict adherence to the Bible, which I read as a youngster.