All those natural disasters - earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts, wildfires, and plagues - do they serve to balance the natural environment?

Some of us still get all weepy when we think about the Gaia Hypothesis, the idea that Earth is a big furry goddess creature who resembles everybody's mom in that she knows what's best for us. But if you look at the historical record - Krakatoa, Mt. Vesuvius, Hurricane Charley, poison ivy, and so forth down the ages - you have to ask yourself: Whose side is she on, anyway?

Barbara Ehrenreich: The Worst Years of Our Lives, Harpercollins, 1991.

Nature is trying very hard to make us succeed, but nature does not depend on us. We are not the only experiment.

R. Buckminster Fuller : Interview, April 30, 1978.

In nature there are neither rewards nor punishments - there are consequences.

Robert Green Ingersoll: The Truth, 1897.

It’s a comforting thought that Nature considers humans as Her part of above average importance.