More species are becoming endangered and pushed to the brink of extinction as a result of humanity’s reckless activities, from land conversion for meat and agricultural purposes to environmental pollution. But biodiversity loss comes with a great cost; we are reducing the services that wildlife species provide ranging from the oxygen that we breathe to global food security. It is time to act to stop environmental degradation and to protect wildlife animals and plants around the world. If you’re looking for more persuasion, read on for inspiring and thought-provoking endangered species quotes.
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Best Quotes about Protecting Endangered Species
1. “The fact is that no species has ever had such wholesale control over everything on Earth, living or dead, as we now have. That lays upon us, whether we like it or not, an awesome responsibility. In our hands now lies not only our own future, but that of all other living creatures with whom we share the Earth.”- David Attenborough from the documentary series, Life On Earth.
“The question is, are we happy to suppose that our grandchild may never be able to see an elephant except in a picture book?” – David Attenborough on the current rapid rate of global biodiversity loss.
3. “It’s extremely important that, as a writer, we give a voice to those who don’t have voices, including the other animals that we share the planet with and the places that are endangered or being lost.” – Alison Hawthorn Deming, American poet and former Agnese Nelms Haury Chair in Environment and Social Justice.
4. “Fortunately, nature is amazingly resilient: places we have destroyed, given time and help, can once again support life, and endangered species can be given a second chance. And there is a growing number of people, especially young people, who are aware of these problems and are fighting for the survival of our only home, planet Earth. We must all join that fight before it is too late.” – renowned English primatologist Jane Goodall on the threats of biodiversity.
5. “What is a fish without a river? What is a bird without a tree to nest in? What is an endangered species act without any enforcement mechanism to ensure their habitat is protected? It is nothing.” – Jay Inslee, Governor of the US state of Washington on the importance of the Endangered Species Act, in which 99% of listed species have avoided extinction since its inception in 1973.
6. “We don’t own the planet Earth, we belong to it. And we must share it with our wildlife.” – Steve Irwin, renowned Australian wildlife expert and conservationist.
If you like these endangered species quotes, you might also like: 12 of the Most Endangered Animals in the World
7. “The rapid loss of biodiversity that we are witnessing is about much more than nature. The collapse of ecosystems will threaten the wellbeing and livelihoods of everyone on the planet.” – Linda Krueger, Director of Biodiversity and Infrastructure Policy of Nature Conservancy.
8. “We all have a responsibility to protect endangered species, both for their sake and for the sake of our own future generations.” – Loretta Lynch, the former United States Attorney General.
“Animals are, like us, endangered species on an endangered planet, and we are the ones who are endangering them, it, and ourselves. They are innocent sufferers in a hell of our making.” – Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, American author and outspoken vegan and animal rights activist.
10. “Collective human actions are transforming, even raving, the biosphere – perhaps irreversibly – through global warming and loss of biodiversity.” – Lord Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal of the United Kingdom, Fellow at Cambridge University’s Trinity College and a member of the House of Lords.
11. “The animals of this world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for whites.” – Alice Walker, American novelist, poet, social activist, and the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
12.“Look closely at nature. Every species is a masterpiece, exquisitely adapted to the particular environment in which it has survived. Who are we to destroy or even diminish biodiversity? – EO Wilson, the late Edward O. Wilson, the world renowned biologist and multiple Pulitzer Prize winner.
