Date: November 20, 2014

Nature is Speaking, a new campaign from Conservation International, uses celebrity voices to personify natural forces — Penelope Cruz is water, Kevin Spacey is the rainforest — with each video concluding with the phrase “nature doesn’t need people.” The campaign is intended as a wake-up call to a public who might not understand that human survival depends on nature, rather than the other way around. It’s a stirring message, but there’s something the campaign is forgetting:  the assertion “nature doesn’t need people” is not only inaccurate, but actively harmful. Nature does need people.