…deep ecologists seek to emphasize that all living beings should be permitted, whenever possible, to purse their own evolutionary destinies. In contrast to anthropocentrism, in which things have value only insofar as they are useful for promoting human ends…ecocentrism calls on people to respect individual beings and the ecosystem in which they arise.

~ M. C. Zimmerman

Great White Egret – photo by meils, bigstockphoto.com