An Asian peasant who labors through all of his waking hours, with tools created
in Biblical times—a South American aborigine who is devoured by piranha in a
jungle stream—an African who is bitten by the tsetse fly—an Arab whose teeth
are green with decay in his mouth—these do live with their “natural
environment,” but are scarcely able to appreciate its beauty. Try to tell a
Chinese mother, whose child is dying of cholera: “Should one do everything one
can? Of course not.” Try to tell a Russian housewife, who trudges miles on foot
in sub-zero weather in order to spend hours standing in line at a state store
dispensing food rations, that America is defiled by shopping centers,
expressways and family cars.