We are in a race against time. Landscapes and ecosystems that have functioned for millennia will be changed beyond recognition unless we take appropriate action today. I think we all know that we contribute to the problem - but I am not sure we each fully realize that we can be a meaningful part of the solution. I firmly believe that of all the environmental problems we face today, landscape fragmentation and habitat loss are the most significant because they are the most permanent and, cumulatively, the most serious for people and wildlife.
Technology can potentially eliminate pollution.
Technology cannot begin to reconstruct the intricate and life-supporting web of a healthy, functioning ecosystem. With the invention during this century of new types of machinery and medicine, people have been able to alter fundamentally the relationship between ourselves and our environment. We are only now beginning to realize some of the less positive effects of this change. I worry that we may not fully understand the negative implications of our actions until it is too late. Like Humpty Dumpty, land fragmented into small pieces and rivers degraded cannot be put back together again.