如果将保护地球的自然系统视作某种道德选择的话，就完全误解了当今人们所面临的危机。当前的挑战是关乎于人类社会的未来，而不是交给某些博爱慷慨的善心人士来做一些随意的慈善。并不是要保护自然免受人类的侵害，而是为了人类而保护自然——能让这样的观念深入人心才是改变思路的核心内容。要知道，我们正承受着自身所作所为带来的一系列后果。全世界都需要知道，一个健康的自然世界并不是某些偶然善举带来的，而是一系列重要物质资产的集合。
如果这样的观念能够产生实际的效果，那么保护自然并不只是环境上的挑战，而必须上升为经济上的挑战。只要有一天人类仍在自欺欺人——一面提倡保护环境，一面却又不顾对环境的损害而急于追求经济增长，那么取得实质性的进展仍会是一件遥遥无期的事情。
To see the preservation of the planet’s natural systems as a moral choice is to completely misunderstand the crisis we face today. The challenge now is about the future of human society, not about giving random charity to some philanthropic, generous person. It’s not about protecting nature from man, it’s about protecting nature for man’s sake—and getting that idea into people’s minds is at the heart of the change in thinking. You know, we’re living with the consequences of what we do. The world needs to know that a healthy natural world is not the result of some random act of kindness, but of a collection of important material assets.
If such ideas are to have any practical effect, conservation of nature must become not just an environmental challenge, but an economic one. As long as human beings continue to deceive themselves by protecting the environment while pursuing economic growth without regard to environmental damage, substantial progress will remain a long way off.
