Philosophers blanch at the idea of valuing trees, streams and people in such a crude way.
Patches of bluebells spread out under trees; streams and pathways wind through the woodland.
From the point of view of preservation, this is spectacular, with trees, streams, ponds and wildlife.
Sitting on a garden bench - the sun, dappled by trees, streaming onto the lawn - it all seems impossibly far away.
Nearby, birds dart in and out of twisted trees, streams bubble in the underbrush and red foxes rustle the dense, undisturbed woods that eventually give way to grassy bluffs.
It takes place in and around a village perched in the hills of southern Italy, and it gives equal, if not preferential, billing to its nonhuman characters: trees, streams, ancient stone buildings.
Still, I'm glad I went to the north-east coast because it is quite astonishingly beautiful, with sandy coves and rocky bays lined with seagrape trees, streams leaping down the mountains in a series of waterfalls then spreading out into wide lagoons between grassy banks before taking a final spin to the sea.
"Zarabad means 'built by the Gods,'" said Cyrus, our guide's uncle, as we meandered through winding streets into countryside flecked with walnut trees, streams, cherry orchards and rice fields; its bucolic serenity juxtaposed with a reminder of more brutal times, a cemetery filled with the graves of young men killed in the eight-year Iran-Iraq war.
The school has many Mediterranean-style buildings, home to century-old eucalyptus trees, streams and green, rolling hills.
It was odd, she thought, how if one was alone, one leant to inanimate things; trees, streams, flowers; felt they expressed one; felt they became one; felt they knew one, in a sense were one; felt an irrational tenderness thus (she looked at that long steady light) as for oneself.
