We should continue to mobilise against the destruction of the world's great habitats, and its terrifying implications. But the most persuasive argument we can make is to show we mean it, by restoring our own lost wonders.
Interpretation
We must actively protect and restore nature to demonstrate our commitment to preserving the environment.
The quote emphasizes the importance of taking action against environmental degradation by not only raising awareness about the loss of natural habitats but also by participating in restoration efforts ourselves. George Monbiot suggests that the most compelling argument for preservation is for people to actively engage in restoring the wonders of nature that have been lost, showing a genuine commitment to the cause through tangible actions.
In practice
This quote would be perfect for a speech at an environmental conference.
The notions that nature exists to serve us; that its value consists of the instrumental benefits we can extract; that this value can be measured in cash terms; and that what can't be measured does not matter, have proved lethal to the rest of life on Earth.
I believe that anyone who wants to stand in a national election should receive a course of psychotherapy. Completing the course should be a qualification for office. This wouldn't change the behaviour of psychopaths, but it might prevent some people who exercise power from imposing their own deep wounds on others.
I became an environmentalist because I love the living world, but I spend much of my life thinking about electricity, industrial processes and civil engineering.
Places that have become agricultural deserts, trashed by giant corporations, could be reforested, drawing carbon dioxide from the air on a vast scale. The ecosystems of land and sea could recover, not just in pockets but across great tracts of the planet.
Never underestimate the power of intrinsic values. They inspire every struggle for a better world.
Why is it so easy to save the banks - but so hard to save the biosphere?
The more our world functions like the natural world, the more likely we are to endure on this home that is ours, but not ours alone.
To slaughter grand and beautiful creatures like these tuskers, whether terrestrial or marine, solely to obtain a few teeth indicates that we have not evolved very much since the days our forebears lived in caves and saught to prove their superiority by adorning themselves with teeth and claws
A tree says: _x000D_ My strength is trust. _x000D_ I know nothing about my fathers, I know nothing about the thousand children that every year spring out of me. _x000D_ I live out the secret of my seed to the very end, and I care for nothing else. _x000D_ I trust that God is in me. _x000D_ I trust that my labor is holy. Out of this trust I live.
The global environment crisis is, as we say in Tennessee, real as rain, and I cannot stand the thought of leaving my children with a degraded earth and a diminished future.
By eating meat we share responsibility for causing climate change, the destruction of our forests, and the poisoning of our air and water. The simple act of becoming a vegetarian can make a difference in the health of our planet.
The eye is the first circle; the horizon which it forms is the second; and throughout nature this primary figure is repeated without end.
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