  Leopold claimed that an ecological interpretation of history shows that “the rich diversity of the world's cultures reflects a corresponding diversity in the wilds that gave them birth” (1949 [1977]: 188). For example, Leopold wrote that cultural diversity is “often based in wildlife. Thus the plains [sic] Indian not only ate buffalo, but buffalo largely determined his architecture, dress, language, arts, and religion” (1949 [1977]: 177). Cultural diversity reflects ecological diversity. Assuming that the preservation of the rich diversity of the world's cultures—cultural diversity—is a good thing, then understanding the connections between that and the preservation of ecological (or “bio”) diversity is also a good thing. The converse is also true: ecological diversity reflects cultural diversity. For example, many Western development projects in Asia and Africa replace ecologically diverse (multispecies) indigenous forests—forests that are managed by women and are integral to maintaining subsistence (not money-based) economies—with monoculture eucalyptus and teak plantations that are managed by men and where trees are primarily a cash crop for export. Many feminist environmental philosophers argue against these development projects; the loss of ecological diversity (provided by indigenous forests) directly and disproportionately harms women, subsistence economies, and the cultural communities to which women belong. These examples illustrate ways that Leopold's insightful awareness of the interdependencies between cultural diversity and ecological (bio) diversity informs a feminist environmental perspective on women-nature connections (see also Sections  3.5 and 3.6).