#ANOTHER WORD FOR SAVING SOMEONES LIFE FREE#

What’s of little interest for us is coexistence. But I can effortlessly list various species from tigers to mosquitoes whose annihilation has been diligently pursued. I can’t name one wild species whose total disappearance would be materially felt by, essentially, anyone (you can easily function without having access to elephants, but if you misplace your phone for one whole day, it’s personal chaos). The irrelevance of wild things to civil society is why endangered species never make it into polls of top public priorities. There is no species whose disappearance has posed much of an inconvenience for civilization, not a single wild species that people couldn’t do without, fewer whose erasure would be noticed by any but a handful of die-hard conservationists or scientists. How could saving this or that endangered species, that is following those whose oblivion brought fast food and sneakers, be a matter of - of all things - saving ourselves? Telling people that “we” need jaguars to “protect ourselves?” That’s a hard sell. When the animals and open spaces go, we have industrial-scale farms and factories, ball fields and strip malls and quick-lubes. Human beings have thrived by destroying nature. People live at high densities in places devoid of wild species and natural beauty. Propelling the human juggernaut has entailed wiping many species out of the way. We are losing many species along the way to humanity’s only three apparent real goals: bigger, faster, more. We have endangered species not because what is bad for them is bad for us, but because the opposite is true: what is bad for them has fueled the explosive growth and maintenance of human populations and technologies. Governments, institutions, and regular people have cheered the material expansion that has cost many species (and tribal peoples) everything.

We now live the way most other people on the planet wish to live. Who misses the Eskimo curlew? Indeed, who knows they existed, their vast migrating flocks like smoke on the now-gone prairies? That experiment is done.īillions of people want what you and I got in exchange: health and wealth and education. We gained: agriculture, and safety for cows, from sea to shining sea. The most abundant large mammal - the American bison - to functional extinction. We drove the most abundant bird in the Americas - the passenger pigeon - to extinction. “If they go extinct, we’ll go extinct,” is a common refrain. And if it turns out that we don’t really need jaguars in order to protect ourselves, have they lost their case for existence?įor decades, many conservationists have been trying to sell a clumsy, fumbling appeal to self-interest: the idea that human beings need wild nature, need wild animals, need the species on endangered lists. Is that really true? That implies big cats are in trouble because “we” don’t care to protect ourselves. A sign featuring a beautiful jaguar asked, “Why should we care about wild cats?” Its answer: “Because in protecting big cats, we are protecting ourselves.” The synonyms rescue and save are sometimes interchangeable, but rescue implies freeing from imminent danger by prompt or vigorous action.I recently visited a museum exhibit on big cats.

Job training designed to redeem school dropouts from chronic unemployment When could rescue be used to replace save? While in some cases nearly identical to save, redeem implies releasing from bondage or penalties by giving what is demanded or necessary. Reclaimed long-abandoned farms When would redeem be a good substitute for save? However, reclaim suggests a bringing back to a former state or condition of someone or something abandoned or debased.

In some situations, the words reclaim and save are roughly equivalent. Tried to ransom the kidnap victim When is reclaim a more appropriate choice than save?

Specifically, deliver implies release usually of a person from confinement, temptation, slavery, or suffering.ĭelivered his people from bondage Where would ransom be a reasonable alternative to save?Īlthough the words ransom and save have much in common, ransom specifically applies to buying out of captivity. The words deliver and save are synonyms, but do differ in nuance.

#ANOTHER WORD FOR SAVING SOMEONES LIFE FREE#

While all these words mean 'to set free from confinement or danger,' save may replace any of the foregoing terms it may further imply a preserving or maintaining for usefulness or continued existence.Īn operation that saved my life In what contexts can deliver take the place of save? Some common synonyms of save are deliver, ransom, reclaim, redeem, and rescue. Frequently Asked Questions About save How does the verb save contrast with its synonyms?

Another word for saving someones life