Environmental Constituency

Policies which build barriers which separate humans from their natural environment (something I call "separation ecology") are likely to diminish the number of people who will develop strong personal connections with the natural world. This, in turn, threatens to weaken the environmental constituency which is, in a democracy, essential to environmental preservation. Still, building environmental connections is about more than political expediency. It is about enhancing human quality of life. If environmental connections are good for people, and I believe that they are, we should try to figure out how to extend those benefits to as many people as possible. It would be tragic if an overprotective environmental movement were to confine an increasing number of people to life in which their only contact with the
natural world was through Sea World-type theme parks and nature television.