exaggerated crises such as Love Canal and distracted minor environmental threats, even as larger ones go unattended. At a deeper level, biologist Daniel Botkin says, they hold ancient and sentimental misconceptions of nature, and of man's place in it, that could stifle the emerging new environmentalism.

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by Daniel B. Botkin

ast June, California voters tried to strike a blow for the state's endangered moun- tain lions when they passed Proposition 1 17, protecting all but the most aggress...