Beyond value: biodiversity and the freedom of the mind

Circumstances have conspired to render the conservation movement curiously diffident in the expression of the fundamental beliefs that underpin it. 'Oppositional' activists assume their case as proven, while 'institutional' tacticians tend to adopt the point of view of those they oppose, deploying utilitarian/economic arguments. The latter arguments represent an unstable long-term option because they are an inadequate defence against compelling forces of corrosion and corruption. On present evidence, in a few hundred years the planet will be devoid of major natural areas, and the quality of human life will have been utterly compromised. A more honest admission that the natural world is an inalienable component of the human capacity to experience freedom (which is also a mental circumstance) would transform the way we treat the natural environment and hence the prospects for the long-term survival of biological diversity.