"The enormous effects of our behavior make us the ultimate keystone species, and the implications to conservation are provocative. One cannot begin to meaningfully address loss of biological diversity or climate change without addressing human poverty, the destructive forces of the divides among races and classes, and the desire to improve one’s quality of life.

I believe that the primary challenge to conservation today is transforming our perspective from one that is primarily about biological diversity or science or even stewardship to one that also is about the making of lives that are worth living. If we do this, not only will far more people be drawn to conservation, but conservation itself will become stronger and more enduring."