The Defenders of Wildlife, like many environmental groups, is dedicated to the philosophy of biologist Aldo Leopold - that "saving all the parts" of the world's ecosystems is the foundation of conservation.
"To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering," Leopold wrote in his classic 1940s essay, "Round River."
Those words became part of the foundation of the modern environmental movement.
So when Defenders climate scientist Jean Brennan and others suggest that it may be time to change the Endangered Species Act to allow some species to go extinct, it underscores the crisis they say the West and the world face from climate change.
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