This always saddens me about where I’m from in the Midwestern United States. Our native flora and fauna are precious. The tall grass prairies and old oak forests are rare ecosystems, but the people who grow up here are so brainwashed by capitalism and modernity that they think our region is dull and lifeless.
Less than 1% of the original tall grass prairie remains. Even with conservation efforts, it’ll never return to the way it was.
There’s outrage about this happening to the Amazon, and people can’t imagine how a population can decimate a rare and valuable ecosystem. But we already replaced ours with farmland and suburbs so long ago that few know or care.