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.
Interpretation
The quote critiques the idea that nature exists solely for human use and highlights the consequences of valuing it only in monetary terms.
George Monbiot emphasizes the danger of viewing nature merely as a resource for human exploitation. He warns that treating nature as an entity with value only in monetary terms leads to detrimental effects on the environment and all forms of life. The quote serves as a call to recognize the intrinsic value of nature and to understand that what cannot be quantified in cash should still be deeply respected and preserved.
In practice
During a climate change awareness conference, this quote can be used to provoke thoughts on our relationship with nature.
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?
It is a campaign not for abundance but for austerity. It is a campaign not for more freedom but for less. Strangest of all, it is a campaign not just against other people, but against ourselves.
It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment.
In many environments, take away the ants and there would be partial collapses in many of the land ecosystems.
There's so much humanity in a love of trees, so much nostalgia for our first sense of wonder, so much power in just feeling our own insignificance when we are surrounded by nature...yes, that's it: just thinking about trees and their indifferent majesty and our love for them teaches us how ridiculous we are - vile parasites squirming on the surface of the earth - and at the same time how deserving of life we can be, when we can honor this beauty that owes us nothing.
The garden has taught me to live, to appreciate the times when things are fallow and when they're not.
As people flock to urban centers where ground space is limited, cities with green walls and roofs and skyscraper farms offer improved health and well-being, renewable resources, reliable food supply, and relief to the environment.
I've found that there is always some beauty left -- in nature, sunshine, freedom, in yourself; these can all help you.
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