This is an extract from my book, "Love is Green: compassion as responsibility in the ecological emergency". I've read a short section here on how we might understand entire systems rather than just individuals, or individual humans, as having a 'good' of their own in the Kantian sense. This means that we can meaningfully extend our respect, but more, our compassion, not just to other individuals but to entire systems, like forests, oceans, and even the great Earth itself. I hope you listen to and think about these questions and come back to me with your own thoughts.