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What makes the Counting Pines particularly noteworthy, however, is the way they count. Being dimly aware that human beings had learned to tell the age of a tree by counting the rings, the original Counting Pines decided that this was why humans cut trees down. Overnight every Counting Pine readjusted its genetic code to produce, at about eye-level on its trunk, in pale letters, its precise age. Within a year they were felled almost into extinction by the ornamental house number plate industry, and only a very few survive in hard-to-reach areas.

— Reaper Man by Pratchett, Terry (Discworld, #11)

Han tørket fingrene på den reneste delen av et håndkle de brukte til å blankpusse sko med, og åpnet brevet. Der sto det: "Kjære Mr. Boughton. Min tante Delia er her på besøk denne uken. Jeg vil gjerne at du skal treffe henne. Kunne du komme til kaffe en eller annen gang på lørdag, eventuelt søndag ettermiddag? Eller en hvilken som helst hverdagskveld? Hvis du kunne komme og bli her en liten stund, ville jeg være svært takknemlig." Deretter: "Med ærbødig hilsen." Dette var verre enn det verste han kunne ha forestilt seg. En tante. Tanter stikker aldri bare innom. Tanter griper inn. Han var nødt til å gå, selv om han visste hva damen kom til å si. Det er utvilsomt mer dannet å si ansikt til ansikt: "God dag. Nydelig vær. Kom aldri i nærheten av min niese igjen." Noe som i høy grad betyr at der tanter kommer, følger onkler etter. Diplomati er krig med andre midler.

— Jack by Marilynne Robinson (Page 101)

Earth’s “sixth mass extinction” is well underway: up to 50% of all individual animals have been lost in recent decades and almost half of land mammals have lost 80% of their range in the last century. Vertebrate populations have fallen by an average of 60% since the 1970s, and in some countries there has been an even faster decline of insects – vital, of course, for aerating the soil, pollinating blossoms, and controlling insect and plant pests. [...] Even more frighteningly, a 3.5 Celsius rise is considered by some to be ”the extinction point”, because: "the food chain collapses, oceanic plankton dies off, and terrestrial vegetation is severely limited. The grasslands we use for agriculture are threatened the most. The extinction of species will create chaos. For example, the disappearance of bees will create enormous problems with pollination. The acidification of the oceans depletes the oxygen in the waters. Temperatures higher than the extinction point are being predicted, not by crackpots, ideologues or sci-fi writers, but by serious scientists."

— Socialism or Extinction by Ted Reese