If we go on the way we have the fault is our greed and we will disappear from the globe to be replaced by the insect.
Jacque Cousteau

When you get right down to it environmentalism is much less about sentimental aesthetics (PETA etc) than it is about survival, specifically of our own species. Whether the stated objective is to save the rain forest or the spotted owl, the ulterior motive is always the same. It's more about us than them, self-preservation the most powerful motive of all.

Even if we obliterate ourselves with the bomb, nature will not perish. Somewhere, somehow a microbe will mutate and survive. Mountains may crumble and rain forests become desert, but earth has survived four billion years of change, and will survive our foolish species too. Conservation is about protecting our home, improving our quality of life and our chance to survive for awhile longer. If we do not do the right thing then our days will be up sooner rather than later. And as she has done before, the earth will rise above troubled times, cycle anew, and once again try to outdo herself.