The New York Review of Books, 2016
"In a famous preface to one of his short novels, Joseph Conrad
pointed out that the enterprise of the scientists or the intellectual
may have more immediate impact, but that of the artist is
more enduring because it goes far deeper; the statement of fact,
however powerful, does not take hold like the image does. I
believe that in defending the natural world, the time has come
to offer up the images.
What I mean is, it is time for a different, formal defense of
nature. We should offer up not just the notion of being sensible
and responsible about it, which is sustainable development, nor
the notion of its mammoth utilitarian and financial value, which
is ecosystem services, but a third way, something different entirely:
we should offer up what it means to our spirits; the love of it.
We should offer up its joy."
from THE MOTH SNOWSTORM
