As ecocide and genocide take their toll, the world loses access to ancient wisdom, art, religion, language, medicine, and the cultural and biological diversity that is needed for basic existence. The death of diversity threatens the survivors. We cannot return to the past, but we can change our lives to preserve the "resident genius" of the land, as novelist Mary Austin described Indian poetry in the 1920s. The resident genius is where the dream of the continent is most alive.
— Tom Hayden, The Lost Gospel of the Earth