Feed Man and the Natural World Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph) or (Feed Chatter #.Paragraph)

Quote #1

Link was going, What the hell's she wearing?, and I was going, Wool. It's wool. Like from an animal. (4.6)

We'll be the first to admit that we wouldn't be able to tell ermine from samite from qiviut (the apparently downy wool of a musk ox, which probably doesn't smell very good). Wool, however, is still an everyday sort of material around here. The fact that Link has no clue what Violet's wearing indicates the separation between people and the natural world that is continually at issue in this novel.

Quote #2

She took me up to a huge window. We stood in front of it. Outside the window, there had been a garden, like, I guess you could call it a courtyard or terrarium? But a long time ago the glass ceiling over the terrarium had cracked, and so everything was dead, and there was moon dust all over everything out there. Everything was gray.

Also, something was leaking air and heat out in the garden, lots of waste air, and the air was rocketing off into space through the hole, so all of the dead vines in the garden were standing straight up, slapping back and forth, pulled toward the crack in the ceiling where we could see the stars. (15.5-6)

This haunting image of the cracked terrarium in the moon garden, and the plants whipping around from the leaking air (what a waste!) is a symbol for what Earth could become without some major course correction. Unfortunately, we don't see any signs of a redirect down on Earth.

Quote #3

There were some weather blimps in front of us. They were all yellow in the sunset that was spreading over the CloudsTM. (18.29)

Things are so bad, environmentally speaking, that the clouds aren't even real. Fake, trademarked clouds are all people see. (Although we have to wonder: who's making money off these clouds?)