Aldo Leopold A Sand County Almanac

"There are some who can live without wild things, and some who cannot. Like winds and sunsets, wild things were taken for granted until progress began to do away with them. Now, we face the question whether a still higher "standard of living" is worth its cost in things natural, wild and free.

These wild things, I admit, had little human value until mechanization assured us of a good breakfast,  and until science disclosed the drama of where they come from and how they live. The whole question boils down to a question of degree. We of the minority see the law of diminishing returns in progress; our opponents do not.


Aldo Leopold