Spinoza would reject the idea that people “contain a fragment of God” because it implies God is divisible, which contradicts his view of God as an infinite, indivisible substance (Deus sive Natura—“God or Nature”). Instead, he would argue that all things, including people, are modes or expressions of God’s essence in finite ways. Rather than containing a piece of God, we exist within God as manifestations of divine substance, each expressing its nature according to necessity.
In the Antarctic, Adélie penguins harbor consistent levels of the pesticide DDT even though it’s been widely banned since the 1970s. The source: glacier meltwater that trickles past the penguins on its way to the sea, eventually making its way into the penguins’ food webs.