Daren (below) hits on an important distinction between the classical liberal view of property rights and the eco-progressive view. For the classical liberal the phrase “property rights” is actually misleading. We are really talking about human rights to own and dispose of justly acquired (i.e. acquired through voluntary means) property as is seen fit. For the eco-progressive it is the property itself that has rights. In other words the phrase “property rights” is taken literally. Dirt, trees, water, rocks, etc. have rights. Therefore, when human rights to property conflict with the rights of the property itself, the eco-progressive chooses the dirt and the rocks over the human beings. This is why progressive environmentalism is profoundly anti-human and why the proper antagonists in this debate are not environmentalists and anti-environmentalists but environmentalists and humanists.