# Humanity Lacks an Ecological Stop Signal by Desmond Morris > “A species has to have some mechanism which stops them from destroying their environment. And there’s only one species that hasn’t got this mechanism; guess which species that is? It’s us. We don’t seem to have that mechanism. Nothing seems to stop us.” > **— Desmond Morris**, *Open University, “Earth in Vision,” updated May 4, 2016* ## Sources and Context - **Original or near-original source and full passage:** [Open University, “Earth in Vision,” updated May 4, 2016](https://www.open.edu/openlearn/nature-environment/the-environment/creative-climate/earth-vision/desmond-morris-earth-vision) — Morris’s population-control generalization is his argument in the interview, not a settled comparative biological finding. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Simple Reminders|Simple Reminders]] - **Article:** [[articles/The Evolutionary Roots of Silicon Valley|The Evolutionary Roots of Silicon Valley]] - **Article:** [[articles/Climate Systems as Human Resilience Platforms|Climate Systems as Human Resilience Platforms]] - **Wiki map:** [[wiki/Human Animality|Human Animality]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Human Ecology|Human Ecology]] ## Share on Social Media ``` “A species has to have some mechanism which stops them from destroying their environment. And there’s only one species that hasn’t got this mechanism; guess which species that is? It’s us. We don’t seem to have that mechanism. Nothing seems to stop us.” — Desmond Morris, Open University, “Earth in Vision,” updated May 4, 2016 https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-desmond-morris-humanity-lacks-an-ecological-stop-signal ```