People are drawn to nature, wilderness, and other species. Without that kinship a part of the human soul begins to wither and no amount of materialism can replace it. The division of humankind from the rest of nature is an artificial one based on the false assumption that humans are separate and above nature. This has always been understood by many other cultures to be false, but now the evidence for it is coming everywhere from nature. Creating and giving people more wealth beyond a certain minimum standard does not create more happiness or satisfaction.
Life is only possible here because it maintains suitable conditions to sustain itself.
Without life, earth would be much hotter, more like Venus. Without life there can be no standard of living of any kind. Therefore a high standard of living begins by protecting and maintaining nature. Anything that gets in the way of these fundamentals is ultimately doomed to failure. We see this in small ways when people are forced to live in very unhealthy environments.