The dislocation of reality
suffered by modern urban humans,
because they are in daily contact only
with non-living, inanimate, man-made objects
befalls, unfortunately, in its most acute form,
humans in positions of power
who should be bearing the responsibilities
for mankinds weal and woe.
Yet what is real for them,
what they affect and what
reciprocally affects them
and what they think about continually
is influence and money . . .
No wonder, then, that ecologists
are regarded as nostalgic dreamers
when they warm that cash in paper or metal,
even in gold itself,
or numbers in a bankbook or on a balance sheet
are mere symbols
and that the real necessities of life,
such as pure air and un-poisoned water
and uncontaminated soil
and an intact protective ozone layer
above the earths surface,
will very soon no longer be buyable
for all the money in the world.
- Loren Eisley