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About this quote

What does it mean?
Bombings, strip mining, and imprisonment are linked in a straight line of warfare against humanity and Earth.
In plain terms
Various harms form a continuous war on life and the planet.
What can you take from it?
See disparate harms as part of a larger destructive system.

Where it applies

  • activist campaigns
  • academic research

Putting it to work

  • connect environmental and social justice issues
  • advocate for holistic policy reforms

Questions to consider

  • What common drivers link these harms?
  • How can we address them collectively?

Another view

The metaphor may oversimplify complex causes.

More from Wendell Berry

  1. Whether we and our politicians know it or not, Nature is party to all our deals and decisions, and she has more votes, a longer memory, and a sterner sense of …

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  2. Great problems call for many small solutions.

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  3. What I stand for is what I stand on.

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