Defending the Environment Is Defending Human Freedom
When environments collapse, people lose their freedoms.
We often talk about environmental protection in terms of saving species, preserving biodiversity, protecting ecosystems. All of that is true and vital. But there’s another way to think about environmental destruction that might resonate even more powerfully: environmental collapse is the destruction of human freedom.
SAVE THE FROGS! believes that healthy ecosystems and healthy democracies are inseparable. That is why the Million Frog March exists. Democracy ensures we have the right to speak up for the environment. And a healthy environment provides us with the freedoms we need in order to ensure the continuance of our democracies.
Frog art above by Portland-based frog enthusiast Nick Gustafson. Speaking of Portland, be sure to read our article on the Portland Frogs.
When environments degrade, here’s what people lose:
Freedom of Self-Reliance
Imagine you can no longer grow food in your garden because the soil is contaminated or the climate is too unstable. You can’t harvest wild fruits and nuts from forests because they’re gone. Fishing and hunting are no longer viable because populations have collapsed.
These aren’t luxuries. For millions of people, these are survival skills. These are freedoms. The freedom to feed your family. The freedom to provide for yourself without depending on corporate food systems or government programs. The freedom to know where your food comes from.
When environments collapse, that freedom collapses with it. You become dependent. You lose autonomy. You lose self-determination.
Freedom of Outdoor Recreation
Children should be able to play outside. Adults should be able to hike in forests, fish in rivers, camp under stars. This isn’t just recreation—it’s freedom. It’s the freedom to spend time in nature, to find solace, to move your body, to experience awe.
When environments degrade, that freedom disappears. Air quality becomes hazardous. Water becomes polluted. Forests burn. Rivers dry up. Outdoor recreation becomes either impossible or a luxury only the wealthy can afford. The poor are trapped indoors, trapped in polluted neighborhoods, trapped without access to nature.
Freedom from Climate Disasters
You have the right to live in a home without constant fear of destruction. You have the right to plan for the future. You have the right to a life not dominated by environmental catastrophe.
Climate change is taking that away. Droughts make farming impossible and water scarce. Floods destroy homes and communities. Tornadoes level towns. Massive hurricanes displace hundreds of thousands. Wildfires force evacuations and burn entire regions to ash.
When these disasters strike—and they’re striking with increasing frequency and intensity—people lose the freedom to stay in their homes, to remain in their communities, to plan their lives. They’re forced to flee or suffer. They’re forced to rebuild again and again. They’re forced to accept government intervention and rationing during emergencies. This is not freedom.
Freedom of Economic Opportunity
When environments collapse, entire economies collapse with them. Fishing communities lose their livelihoods when fish populations crash. Farming regions become unable to produce crops due to drought or flooding. Indigenous peoples lose access to ancestral lands and traditional ways of life.
Young people in these communities face an impossible choice: stay and have no economic future, or leave—abandoning their homes, their cultures, their families. This is not freedom. This is displacement. This is the erasure of entire ways of life.
Freedom of Health and Safety
You have the right to breathe clean air; to drink safe water; to live without constant exposure to pollution, toxins, and environmental hazards.
Environmental collapse takes that away. Air pollution causes respiratory disease. Water contamination causes cancer and neurological damage. Plastic pollution infiltrates every ecosystem and every body. Chemical runoff creates dead zones. Pesticides and herbicides damage human health.
And these aren’t equal impacts. Low-income communities bear the heaviest burden. People living near refineries, factories, and landfills. They drink contaminated water. They breathe polluted air. Their children develop asthma at higher rates. This is environmental injustice. This is the theft of health and freedom.
More beautiful frog art by Nick Gustafson, who won the 2014 SAVE THE FROGS! Art Contest.
The Democracy Connection
Here’s where this gets even more serious: when people lose environmental freedoms, they become vulnerable to authoritarianism.
Throughout history, authoritarian regimes exploit environmental crises to consolidate power. They declare emergencies, restrict movement, control resources, suppress dissent. When people are desperate—fighting for survival, competing for scarce resources, displaced by disasters—they’re more willing to trade freedom for security. They’re more vulnerable to strongman politics. They’re more likely to abandon democratic principles.
Conversely, healthy democracies depend on people having agency. They depend on people being able to feed themselves, access clean water, breathe clean air, move freely, plan for the future. When environmental collapse removes that agency, democracy becomes fragile.
This is why we say: healthy ecosystems need healthy democracies, and healthy democracies need healthy ecosystems. They’re not separate fights. They’re the same fight.
Democratic & Environmental Degradation Is Happening Now
We don’t have to imagine a future where environmental collapse threatens freedom. We’re living it now.
Indigenous peoples are losing ancestral lands to deforestation and resource extraction. Fishing communities are losing their livelihoods and cultures as fish populations collapse. Farmers are losing their ability to grow crops as climate becomes unstable. Communities are being displaced by hurricanes, wildfires, and floods. Air and water pollution are harming health and shortening lives, especially in low-income communities.
And as environmental crises deepen, we’re seeing increased authoritarianism. We’re seeing governments use climate disasters as justification for emergency powers. We’re seeing resources controlled by governments and corporations rather than communities. We’re seeing dissent suppressed in the name of security.
This isn’t a coincidence. Environmental collapse and loss of freedom go hand in hand.
Pollution frog art by Nick Gustafson.
Environmental Protection Is Freedom Protection
When we talk about defending democracy, we’re not just talking about voting rights or free speech. We’re talking about the freedom to live a dignified life. The freedom to grow food and feed ourselves. The freedom to breathe clean air and drink clean water. The freedom to access outdoor spaces. The freedom to live without constant fear of natural disasters.
We’re talking about the right to self-determination. The right to provide for your family. The right to remain in your community. The right to maintain your culture and traditions.
Environmental protection is freedom protection. It always has been.
The Million Frog March
The Million Frog March is a gathering to defend democracy and the environment together. Because you can’t defend one without defending the other.
You can join us in Washington DC or organize an event in your community. Contact local environmental groups, democracy organizations, and civil rights groups. Tell them: environmental collapse is a threat to freedom.
Share this message. Help others understand the connection. This is about human freedom, dignity, the future of frogs AND the future of democracy.
Together, we can defend both. Together, we will not be silenced—and neither will the frogs. 🐸
Frogs are disappearing. And with them, so are human freedoms. But it’s not too late. We can still protect both ecosystems and democracies. We can still choose a different future.
