“Diversity is not a characteristic of life; it is a condition necessary for life. To eliminate diversity would be like eliminating carbon and expecting life to go on. This, I believe, is why even a passing acquaintance to endangered languages or endangered species or endangered cultures, brings with it so much anxiety, so much sadness. We know, in our tissues, that the fewer the differences we encounter, wherever it is we go, the more widespread the kingdom of death has become."
Barry Lopez (1945– 2020)