Autumn comes to the sea with a fresh blaze of phosphorescence, when every wave crest is aflame. Here and there the whole surface may glow with sheets of cold fire, while below schools of fish pour through the water like molten metal.

The human race is challenged more than ever before to demonstrate our mastery, not over nature but of ourselves.

The question is whether any civilization can wage relentless war on life without destroying itself, and without losing the right to be called civilized.

Have we fallen into a mesmerized state that makes us accept as inevitable that which is inferior or detrimental, as though having lost the will or the vision to demand that which is good?

Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.

Only within the moment of time represented by the present century has one species -- man -- acquired significant power to alter the nature of the world.

It is ironic to think that man might determine his own future by something so seemingly trivial as the choice of an insect spray.