The central insight of John Muir and of the science of ecology was the realization that all things are connected, are related; that human beings are merely one of the millions of species that have been shaped by the process of evolution for three and a half billion years. With that understanding, we can better answer the question, "Why Wilderness?"

Is it because wilderness makes pretty picture postcards? Because it protects watersheds for downstream use by agriculture, industry and homes? Because it cleans the cobwebs out of our heads after a long week in the auto factory or over the video display terminal? Because it preserves resource extraction opportunities for future generations of humans? Because some unknown plant living in the wilds may hold a cure for cancer?

No. It is because wilderness is. Because it is the real world, the flow of life, the process of evolution, the repository of that three and a half billion years of shared travel.

All natural things have intrinsic value, inherent worth. Their value is not determined by what they will ring up on the cash register, nor by whether or not the are good. They are. They exist. For their own sake. Without consideration for any real or imagined value to human civilization.

Even more important than the individual wild creature is the wild interconnected community - the wilderness, the stream of life unimpeded by industrial interference or human manipulation. These twin themes of interconnectedness and intrinsic value form the core of the ideas of such pioneer ecological thinkers as John Muir, Aldo Leopold and Rachel Carson, and are the basis for action by Earth First!ers. This biocentric world view, as opposed to the anthropocentric paradigm of civilization (and the reformist position of mainstream environmental groups), has been developed into the philosophy of Deep Ecology by philosophers such as Arne Naess of Norway, John Seed of Australia, Alan Drengson of Canada, and George Sessions, Bill Devall, Dolores LaChapelle and Gary Snyder of the United States, among others.

Earth First!, in short, does not operate from a basis of political pragmatism, or what is perceived to be "possible." Wilderness is not something that can be compromised in the political arena. We are unapologetic advocates for the natural world, for Earth.