How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
Tool shrugged. "No one expected Category Six hurricanes. They didn't have city killers then. The climate changed. The weather shifted. They did not anticipate well." (17.20)
Having expectations of nature seems to be a bad idea in the novel, as Tool puts baldly; just take a look at the relationship between nature and human response. Despite human development, nature took its own course, and humans paid the price. Here, nature is almost an antagonist in the novel.
Quote #8
The pirates were bitter enemies of the trading fleets and perfectly willing to kill or sink an entire cargo as revenge for the drowning of their ancestral lands. There were no polar bears now, and seals were few and far between [...] and with the disappearance of the ice, the Siberians and the Inuit became sea people. (20.5)
This scenario implies that industrialists and capitalists share the blame in the effects of the melting. So nature not only destroys cities, it also pits humans against one another based on how they value (or devalue) nature.
Quote #9
"Actually, you're right. The real numbers are all deeper than when the maps were made, but the ratios are the same, even with the rising sea levels. So everything will be deeper than what you see on the map."
Nature isn't just the backdrop for the novel; natural events play a huge role in moving the plot forward. Because of the warming and rising sea levels, Nailer has the chance to help rescue Nita from the Pole Star by steering it past the Teeth.