Philip Conkling of the Island Institute notes that if biodiversity is the measure of vitality, many islands are far healthier for having enjoyed the presence of man. The threats to Maine's waterfront today are not just pollution, overfishing, and sprawl, although these are profound. In the way Americans have of killing the things we love, rugged, watery Maine is in danger of losing the balance between locals and a vacationing gentry, who have very different ideas about the uses of the coast. Fishing and boatbuilding are messy, marginal enterprises. Longtime residents fear, with some justification, that the telecommuters and summer people will eventually squeeze them out through rising property values and a desire to keep everything quaint and tidy.
Every footfall upsets the delicate web of interrelatedness between man and nature.
The idea isn't to stop moving but to take the right steps.