• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 544 0

grandly the more species of all kinds, as well as individuals, it supports. Opposing this view, we might remember that we lack evidence of consciousness, or the capacity to suffer and enjoy, except in individual organisms. Accordingly, a liberal, compassionate conservation movement should be concerned with the welfare of individual animals rather than the entire biological community regarded as a mystic whole, and of individuals rather than of species. Some humanitarian philosophers, like Tom Regan (1983), maintain that every member of a thriving species has no less claim to our forbearance than have the few surviving individuals of a vanishing species. Thus, we may recognize a holistic or "totalitarian" approach to conservation, and an individualistic or "liberal" attitude.

A third alternative arises: widespread is the belief that we should protect the natural world, not for its own sake, but for its importance to humankind. Vegetable and animal species favorable to human interests should receive preferential treatment; others, useless or harmful to humans, might be neglected or extirpated. If we adopt this view, we should remember that organisms that do not directly contribute to human welfare are often necessary for the ecological health of the biotic community in which useful species thrive; as, for example, mycorrhizal fungi, that envelop the finer roots of forest trees and help them absorb nutrients from the soil, are of no direct use to people but contribute to the maintenance of forests where timber trees thrive. Moreover, we should not forget that nature is rich in aesthetic and intellectual as well as economic values, which unfortunately sometimes conflict. A land that yields a maximum of food, fibers, and other salable products might become so monotonous and uninteresting, so poor in aesthetic appeal, that our spirits might droop while we contemplate it. Narrow concentration on the welfare of humankind might in the long run be injurious to humans.

The task of preserving the natural world from destructive exploitation by an ever-growing mass of humans is so vast and many-sided

Page 155

that no individual, and probably no private organization or governmental agency, can effectively undertake all of it. Efficiency is promoted by specialization. It is fortunate that certain individuals or societies devote their efforts to protecting a small part of the natural communityrain forests, wetlands, dolphins, pandas, or whateverwithout, I hope, forgetting that their specialty is only part of a much greater endeavor, that of saving the planet from utter spoliation; for unless we preserve the whole in a flourishing state, we cannot save the parts.

As an approach to conservation less daunting than biodiversity of indefinite compass, I suggest that we devote our efforts to biocompatibility, or compatible biodiversity, the harmonious association of diverse species. To start a program for biocompatibility, we should choose a large community of diverse creatures that coexist without destructive strife, or better, with mutual support, and then add whatever other organisms might be compatible with this nuclear group. An appropriate association is that of flowering plants, their pollinators, and the dispersers of their seeds. Such a community of reciprocally helpful plants and animals includes plants of many families and growth forms, from herbs and vines to towering trees; among their pollinators are bees, butterflies, moths, beetles, dipterous flies, and (in the New World) hummingbirds and certain tanagers; the disseminators of their seeds are a multitude of frugivorous birds, bats, and flightless mammals, including the widespread, terrestrial agoutis of tropical America. The plants attract the pollinators by their colors and fragrance, and reward them with nectar and excess pollen. With eagerly sought fruits and arillate seeds, they recompense the animals that digest only the soft pulp and spread viable seeds far and wide.

To injure the organism with which it exchanges benefits would not advantage