It works because of something many environmentalists have forgotten, most average people never think about, and most politicians are incapable of learning: it works because it doesn’t ask a species to prove its usefulness, what they’re good for, or how much money they’re worth.
Yet when applied in good faith it works. It works because of something many environmentalists have forgotten, most average people never think about, and most politicians are incapable of learning: it works because it doesn’t ask a species to prove its usefulness, what they’re good for, or how much money they’re worth. The act doesn’t say that we need them. It acknowledges that we harm them. In its first words, “The Congress finds and declares that various species of fish, wildlife, and plants in the United States have been rendered extinct as a consequence of economic growth.” It says that recovery plans shall “give priority to… particularly those species that are, or may be in conflict with construction or other development projects or other forms of economic activity.”