Final answer:
The conservation of the environment is crucial to maintain biodiversity, ensure the survival of natural resources, and provide future generations with a livable world. Conservation efforts, like the establishment of preserves, must go hand-in-hand with sustainable practices worldwide to effectively protect Earth's ecological balance.
Step-by-step explanation:
Environmental conservation is critically important to safeguard the quality of the Earth's environment and ensure that natural resources are available for future generations. Visionaries like John Muir and Rachel Carson have historically glorified nature and warned against the perils of human exploitation on the environment. The conservation of resources is not a matter of choice but a necessity to maintain biodiversity and the well-being of human populations.
The environmentalism movement, gaining traction in the 1970s, today faces concerns such as global warming, which poses risks to biodiversity and human health. While conservation preserves are instrumental in protecting biodiversity, they are also limited by geopolitical and economic forces, and may inadvertently distract from sustainable practices outside of these areas. Given that 11 percent of Earth's land is currently protected, it remains essential that actions to preserve and maintain the planet's ecological balance involve not just governments and agencies, but all individuals and societies.
Actions taken today hold the weight of ensuring low risk in the future. It is vital to lay the groundwork for our grandchildren to have a livable world, similar to the rich natural experiences our generation has been privileged to enjoy. Safeguarding the environment for future generations is not merely preserving scenic landscapes, it is about sustaining the foundations of life on Earth.