In the next 25 years, the human race will have to decide whether or not to preserve the bestiary of Nature's living masterpieces. Ashes and Snow is not meant to tell people to do some things and not to do other things. It's meant to inspire. I hope it's not a requiem.

As quoted in "Epiphanies in Sepia and Umber" by Matthew Gurewitsch, in The Wall Street Journal, (15 March 2005)