Conservation & Preservation
The two terms ‘conservation’ and ‘preservation’ are often confused and are used to mean the same thing, although differences exist. Conservationists include those who accept that change and progression are necessary for a better future, but only when the changes take place in ways that are not wasteful. What the conservationist opposes is not the harnessing of nature for mankind’s progression per se, but the fact that all too often the impacts on the environment compromise that of progression. Conservationists have warned us that if we continue to be wasteful and pollute the environment, then it won’t just be our generation that suffers, but future generations too. Environmental conservation is often regarded as a more shallow form of environmentalism.
Preservation, on the other hand, involves attempts to maintain, in their present condition, areas of the Earth that are so far untouched by humans. Preservationists are concerned that mankind is encroaching onto the environment at such a rate that many untamed landscapes are being given over to farming, industry, housing, tourism and other human developments, and that we our losing too much of what is ‘natural’. Environmental preservation is often regarded as a deeper form of environmentalism, or ecocentrism. Some preservationists also argue that wildlife and ecosystems should be preserved, whatever the cost, regardless of the economic benefits they may have for humans. This follows from the belief that every living thing has a right to exist.
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