#butterflies

Entomologist Dr. Ovid Byron speaking to television journalist, Tina, who says, re. global warming, "Scientists of course are in disagreement about whether this is happening and whether humans have a role." He replies: "The Arctic is genuinely collapsing. Scientists used to call these things the canary in the mine. What they say now is, The canary is dead. We are at the top of Niagara Falls, Tina, in a canoe. There is an image for your viewers. We got here by drifting, but we cannot turn around for a lazy paddle back when you finally stop pissing around. We have arrived at the point of an audible roar. Does it strike you as a good time to debate the existence of the falls?" p.367 ↗

— Barbara Kingsolver

#climate-crisis #monarch-butterflies #change

This flesh in which we live is nothing more than a cocoon, and only when we step out of it do we truly begin to live. ↗

— Nancy Stephan

#death #inspirational #life #death

First smile!! An unseasonal little shower of rain fell here, and a lot of butterflies drowned, so we put them in the sun and they came back to life, and flew up and then Agaat SMILED! ↗

— Marlene Van Niekerk

#nature #life

The splendor of a human heart that trusts it is loved unconditionally gives God more pleasure than Westminster Cathedral, the Sistine Chapel, Beethoven’s “Ninth Symphony”, Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers”, the sight of 10,000 butterflies in flight, or the scent of a million orchids in bloom. Trust is our gift back to God, and he finds it so enchanting that Jesus died for love of it. ↗

— Brennan Manning

#butterflies #ruthless-trust #love

I like to feel the butterflies in the stomach, I like to go home and have a restless night and wonder how I'm going to be able to accomplish this feat, get jittery. That hunger and those butterflies in the stomach are very essential for all creative people. ↗

— Amitabh Bachchan

#accomplish #butterflies #creative #creative people #essential

It's so bizarre, I'm not scared of snakes or spiders. But I'm scared of butterflies. There is something eerie about them. Something weird! ↗

— Nicole Kidman

#bizarre #butterflies #eerie #i #scared

The least thing upset him on the links. He missed short putts because of the uproar of the butterflies in the adjoining meadows. ↗

— P. G. Wodehouse

#because #butterflies #him #least #links

A climate's changes are tough to quantify. Butterflies can help. Entomologists prefer "junk species--" the kind of butterflies too common for most collections-- to keep up with what's going on in the insect's world. They're easy to find and observe. When do something unusual, something's changed in the area. Art Shapiro's team at UC Davis monitors ten local study sites, some since the 1970s. The ubiquitous species are the study's go-tos, helping distinguish between lasting changes (climate warming, habitat loss) and ones that will right themselves (one cold winter, droughts like last year's). Consistency is key; they collect details year after year, no empty data sets between. A few species have disappeared from parts of the study area altogether, probably a lasting change. On the other hand, seemingly big news in 2012 might be just a year's aberration. Two butterflies came back to the city of Davis last year, the umber skipper after 30 years, the woodland skipper after 20-- both likely a result of a dry winter with near-perfect breeding conditions of sunny afternoons and cool nights. ↗

— Johnson Rizzo National Geographic Feb.

#changes #climate-change #environment #habitat #patterns

Butterflies are self propelled flowers. ↗

— R.H. Heinlein

#butterflies #flowers #grace #beauty

I almost wish we were butterflies and liv'd but three summer days - three such days with you I could fill with more delight than fifty common years could ever contain. ↗

— John Keats

#days #fanny-brawne #fifty-common-years #letter #love