Elections 2016: Why so indifferent to the natural world?

I have been writing about the importance of the natural world for nearly as long as I remember. To me its obvious we cannot ignore the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat or the breeze bathing us each time we bike or walk or stay motionless under a tree. Then there are those gorgeous landscapes I embrace in my walks up Johnston's pasture, a mountain at the northern borders of Claremont. But even in my backyard where I do my writing I occasionally see the Monarch butterfly landing on the green leaves and red flowers of the milkweeds. This insect alone makes my day. Its large diaphanous colorful wings open and close like a dream.

Monarch butterfly on a milkweed in my backyard. Photo: Evaggelos Vallianatos

But, of course, the natural world includes animals, plants, rivers, mountains, oceans, most of the Earth is natural world. So why our politicians fail to get it? You cannot be healthy if the natural world is unhealthy. That's simple. Or is it not?

I heard practically nothing about the natural world in these past "debates" between Trump and Clinton. These candidates have other things in mind.

But I wanted my candidate, Hillary Clinton, to at least think about the unsaid in the debates. So I wrote her a letter:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/evaggelos-vallianatos/letter-to-hillary-clinton_b_12301950.html

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