MAURICE BINSTEAD WOULD start to whistle every time we came into the Arcadia Valley in central Queensland. Roddy Smith is filled with peace at Lake Victoria, near Mildura. Lyndon Schneiders is awestruck and protective of the unique landscapes of Cape York.

Together with many other men and women, they are the human face of the debate about how to manage Australia’s natural resources more sustainably. That’s the debate we have to have, because we cannot keep running down our resource base the way we are doing now.