Climate change: We have never faced a more critical time on our planet Richard Leakey More Quotes by Richard Leakey More Quotes From Richard Leakey Humans become human through intense learning not just of survival skills but of customs and social mores, kinship and social laws-that is, culture. Richard Leakey survivalskillslaw To me it's a question of being able to look backward and give the present a root... To give meaning to where we are today, we need to look at where we have come from. Richard Leakey rootsgivingneeds For three million years we were hunter-gatherers, and it was through the evolutionary pressures of that way of life that a brain so adaptable and so creative eventually emerged. Today we stand with the brains of hunter-gatherers in our heads, looking out on a modern world made comfortable for some by the fruits of human inventiveness, and made miserable for others by the scandal of deprivation in the midst of plenty. Richard Leakey creativityscienceyears The whole story is about change. We are very lucky that the earth's history is recorded in fossilized remains. And we can see the changes. Unfortunately, there will always be gaps in our knowledge, but there is no doubt that we and everything living today has evolved. Richard Leakey atheismluckydoubt To have arrived on this earth as a product of a biological accident, only to depart through human arrogance, would be the ultimate irony. Richard Leakey intelligencearrogancewould-be In the area of species protection, we should concern ourselves with what is right as opposed to what might be easier, or popular in the short term. Richard Leakey protectioneasiermight Spoken language clearly differentiates Homo sapiens from all other creatures. None but humankind produces a complex spoken language, a medium for communication and a medium for introspective reflection. Richard Leakey communicationlanguagereflection Primates need good nutrition, to begin with. Not only fruits and plants, but insects as well. Richard Leakey nutritionfruitneeds Natural selection operates according to immediate cirumstances and not toward a long-term goal. Homo sapiens did eventually evolve as a descendant of the first humans, but there was nothing inevitable about it. Richard Leakey goallongfirsts The greatest problem we face is the growing number of people living in poverty. The related sense of hopelessness has to be impacting on every part of environmental management. Richard Leakey environmentalnumberspeople It's the next annihilation of vast numbers of species. It is happening now, and we, the human race, are its cause Richard Leakey nextracenumbers The world's five thousand extant languages are products of our shared ability, but the five thousand cultures they create are separate from each other. Richard Leakey languagecultureworld Echoing the criticism made of his father's habilis skulls, he added that Lucy's skull was so incomplete that most of it was 'imagination made of plaster of Paris', thus making it impossible to draw any firm conclusion about what species she belonged to. Richard Leakey parisskullsfather The language of art is powerful to those who understand it, and puzzling to those who do not. What we do know is that here was the modern human mind at work, spinning symbolism and abstraction in a way that only Homo sapiens is capable of doing. Richard Leakey powerfulsymbolismart Paleoanthropology is not a science that ends with the discovery of a bone. One has to have the original to work with. It is a life-long task. Richard Leakey tasksdiscoverylong We hope to find more pieces of the puzzle which will shed light on the connection between this upright, walking ape, our early ancestor, and modern man. Richard Leakey connectionslightmen Scientific innovations continually provide us with new means of analyzing the finds. Richard Leakey analyzinginnovationmean I have been raised to believe in freedom of thought and speech. If a minority wishes to accept that position it's their right. What I fear is that this minority may seem to be larger than it truly is. What is strange is that there are still people who believe the world is not a globe. Richard Leakey atheismbelievepeople To investigate the history of man's development, the most important finds are, of course, hominid fossils. Richard Leakey fossilsimportantmen My father used to say that, through culture, humans effectively domesticated themselves. Richard Leakey evolutionculturefather
