When I was in high school, I took a trip with my youth group to Ontario, Canada with a parish on an indigenous Canadian reservation. For five days we stayed on the Six Nations reservation in Brantford, Ontario, the largest native Canadian reservations in the country. We also spent several days in Toronto and stayed at Council Fire, a native Canadian cultural center in the city. On the reservation, I had the chance to speak to many members of the Six Nations community and what really struck me was how their everyday lives are so closely integrated with nature. The leaders and community members we encountered taught us about their culture and how it revolves around a deep reverence for the natural world. At the church service I attended all of the prayers and the liturgy had references to the earth and our responsibility towards it. So when our group did all sorts of outdoorsy things, such as kayaking the Grand River and biking around the Canadian countryside, I experienced it from a fresh perspective which made it that much more amazing.
I believe everyone has different motivations as to why we should "save nature". For some it's economical and for others, like the Six Nations peoples, it's for religious/spiritual reasons. My personal reason for wanting to preserve and protect nature is that I really enjoy experiencing it whether I'm hiking, biking or kayaking. The outdoors are a place I can retreat to when I need to get away from city life, and I just feel rejuvenated whenever I've spent quality time there. Despite this being my primary reason for wanting to "save nature" I've found that the majority of other people's arguments for it are also valid. It's hard to make a case for why we don't need a healthy environment to live in, which is why we should be protecting it.
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