Ken Burns: Filmed over the course of more than six years at some of nature's most spectacular locales -- from Acadia to Yosemite, Yellowstone to the Grand Canyon, the Everglades of Florida to the Gates of the Arctic in Alaska -- The National Parks: America's Best Idea is nonetheless a story of people: people from every conceivable background -- rich and poor; famous and unknown; soldiers and scientists; natives and newcomers; idealists, artists and entrepreneurs; people who were willing to devote themselves to saving some precious portion of the land they loved, and in doing so reminded their fellow citizens of the full meaning of democracy. It is a story full of struggle and conflict, high ideals and crass opportunism, stirring adventure and enduring inspiration -- set against the most breathtaking backdrops imaginable.
Michael Chabon: Art is a form of exploration, of sailing off into the unknown alone, heading for those unmarked places on the map. If children are not permitted--not taught--to be adventurers and explorers as children, what will become of the world of adventure, of stories, of literature itself? Once something is fetishized, capitalism steps in and finds a way to sell it.
Jeff Goldblum, in Jurassic Park: You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could and before you even knew what you had you patented it and packaged it and slapped it on a plastic lunchbox, and now you're selling it, you want to sell it!
Jamie Hogan: I'm an engineer, and if one genius bear can do it, sooner or later there might be two genius bears.
The National Parks: America's Best Idea | PBS | 
