Monday Morning Philosophy

This passage is from what I think was Peter Matthiessen's first non-fiction book Wildlife in America from 1959. He's has written fiction as well in a long and distinguished career:

"The concept of conservation is a far truer sign of
civilization than that spoliation of a continent
which we once confused with progress. Today,
very late, we are coming to accept the fact that
the harvest of renewable resources must be
controlled. Forests, soil, water, and wildlife
are mutually interdependent, and the ruin of
one will mean, in the end, the ruin of them all."