How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
If the global temperature rises by 4°C over the next fifty years [...] the whole of the Appalachian wilderness below New England could become savanna. (1.1.5)
That's some harrowing stuff—especially because A Walk in the Woods was published back in 1998. Wow. The consequences of human pollution become a major theme in the book, as Bryson is constantly faced with the evidence of environmental catastrophe along the Appalachian Trail.
Quote #2
By the late 1980's [...] it was the only significant player in the American timber industry that was cutting down trees faster than it replaces them. (1.4.14)
Ironically, the Forest Service seems to hurt America's woodlands more than it helps them. Shouldn't their name be the Forest Smashers instead? Jokes aside, this is a pretty bleak picture—trees aren't some magical resource that endlessly replenishes itself. It's not like they grow on... hmm—wrong cliché.
Quote #3
In the Smokies, over 90 percent of Fraser firs [...] are sick or dying, from a combination of acid rain and the depredations of a moth. (1.7.27)
There are tons of plant and animal species that have been essentially wiped off the face of the planet by human interference. That might not be too surprising, but what is surprising is just how fast this process can move along. That scares the pants off of us.