Why saving languages is a form of environmentalism

We understand that when a species goes extinct, we lose a unique thread in the web of life.

- ANNA MAE YU LAMENTILLO

But we rarely feel the same urgency when a language disappears, even though the loss is just as profound and irreversible. This disconnect is a critical blind spot in our fight for a sustainable planet.

The crisis of language extinction is not separate from the ecological crisis; they are two sides of the same coin. To save the knowledge essential for protecting Earth’s biodiversity, we must first save the languages that hold it.

Languages are not just collections of words; they are complex, living systems of knowledge, refined over millennia of intimate interaction with a specific place. Each language contains a unique cultural encyclopedia of its environment.