I have met few individuals over the years who possess the combination of skills that Bob possessed. He had a passion for nature that was obvious and his ability to communicate that passion in poetry was wonderful. From time to time I still pull out and read his words in the small book that he co-authored about deciduous forests. We are not all 'tree huggers' or 'card carrying members of Green Peace'. There is an enormous amount of ignorance among the public regarding the role that humans need to play in maintaining a livable and sustainable biosphere.
Most people continue to view humans as being apart from the rest of nature.
Until that attitude changes, environmental degradation will continue globally even though we will continue to work on problems and fix a few of them.