We are only now beginning to appreciate how strange and splendid it is, how it catches the breath, the loveliest object afloat around the sun, enclosed in its own blue bubble of atmosphere, manufacturing and breathing its own oxygen, fixing its own nitrogen from the air into its own soil, generating its own weather at the surface of its rain forests, constructing its own carapace from living parts: chalk cliffs, coral reefs, fossils from earlier forms of life now covered by layers of new life meshed together around the globe.”
Ons begin nou eers besef hoe buitengewoon en luisterryk dit is, hoe asemrowend dit is, die allerpragtigste voorwerp wat om die son dryf, omsluit deur sy eie blou atmosfeerborrel, terwyl dit sy eie suurstof vervaardig en inasem, sy eie stikstof uit die lug haal en in sy eie grond sit, sy eie weer vanuit sy reënwoude voortbring, sy eie kors uit natuurlike elemente vorm: kalkkranse, koraalriwwe, fossiele van vroeëre lewensvorme wat nou deur lae nuwe lewensvorme bedek word wat regoor die aardbol inmekaar skakel.”jw2019 jw2019