THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB
DEPARTMENT OF LIFE SCIENCES
UNIVERSITY OF EAST LONDON
ROMFORD ROAD, STRATFORD,
LONDON, EI5 4LZ
NEWSLETTER NO. 20 February 1997
WHY CONSERVE NATURE? by Ken Hill
Some thoughts to explain the title:
1. Destruction, once happened, may be difficult to correct or replace, in many cases it
will be impossible, and we have no knowledge now of what may be required in the
future.
2. Each species lost, impoverishes the living world, and denies to all the opportunity of
enjoyment of the natural world by that bit more.
3. To keep a variety of wildlife. Farming systems rely on natural processes, e.g. seed
germination depends on adequate water supply, warmth, day length. Many crops
rely on Nitrogen fixing bacteria in the soil for that element, Calcium, Phosphorus,
Potassium, Sulphur and Oxygen also. Oilseed Rape needs insect pollination, or
there is no seed to harvest - insects too have their requirements, including NOT
being poisoned by farm chemicals.
4. To maintain a pleasant environment for human enjoyment; one's own family, the
community and the world at large.
5. To enhance the landscape with features that facilitate country pursuits and past-
times such as riding, shooting, fishing, hill walking and climbing.
6. To retain our heritage as a living record of the evolution of the countryside, and
man's ancestry. Fundamental, better than a museum record, tapes or books.
7. To steward the land, so that one can hand on a green and pleasant land to future
generations. NO human being has the sole right to change the natural environment,
we all hold it in trust, and have a duty to look after it properly according to the level
of knowledge available to us. We have no right to bleed the natural resources for
short term gain.
Modern technology has provided the knowledge and materials to change the
environment and extract materials in large quantities, greater variety and more rapidly
than at any time previously. The efforts involved in obtaining the Eaith's wealth for our
requirements have brought much loss to the natural environment with creation of waste
tips and spoil heaps from mining and quarrying, huge areas of monoculture which have
reduced availability of habitat to wildlife, vast areas of urban development and road
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 20, February 1997