The causes of all this devastation are multiple. The following reasons are those I would consider significant, in addition to those mentioned above.

Ignorance

We know so little about the complexity and interrelatedness of ecosystems and the harm we do by many of our actions. As G. Tyler Miller, among others, reminds us, the world is more complex than we can ever possibly imagine. To give an example, Dr Martin Ellwood, a Research Fellow at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, says:

We have identified fewer than 20% of the insect species, even though insects are some of the most ecologically important animals on Earth. We have virtually no idea how insect diversity, or indeed the diversity of any organisms, is generated and maintained. In the face of our planet’s worst extinction crisis, resolving this issue represents one of the most urgent but also one of the most exciting goals of modern ecology.

Too often this ignorance has been inexcusable. Paul Wachtel, in The Poverty of Affluence: A Psychological Portrait of the American Way of Life, speaks of “pollution and the problem of environmental limits” as “the weightiest of all the denied realities of the consumer life”.

Numerous examples could be cited where humans have upset the balance of nature that has developed over millions of years, often with devastating consequences. This has often happened by transferring a species to a new environment, with good intentions but with harmful effects on the host environment, or by seeking to eradicate a species thought to be harmful in a certain area, while ignorant of its other benefits. Probably one of the greatest causes of the extinction of species worldwide is the introduction of alien species, whether plants, animals or insects. Even when complete environmental impact studies are carried out, disasters can occur.

The urgency of education about those things we do know is vital. I agree with eco-feminist Heather Eaton who writes, “If…the natural world [is] invisible in our education, [its] destruction will be as well.” Surely it is as important as reading, writing and arithmetic. The earlier we can start with our children, the better.