The Future of LIfe.

I was reading through a textbook for my Environmental Issues course and saw this wonderful quote that resembled what we as a class have been talking about in Literary Criticism.
"Looking at the totality of life, the POET asks, 'Who are Gaia's children?' The Ecologist responds, 'They are the species. We must know the role each one plays in the whole in order to manage Earth wisely.' The Systematist adds, 'Then let's get started. How many species exist? Where are they in the world? Who are their genetic kin?'
The poet in this quote is someone who asks the questions. The questions create a dialogue where real global problems may be solved. Not only does this quote imply the importance of collective intelligence, but it also implies at the importance of the poet and the question. The question as we have learned in class is what the author seeks to ask and answer in each paragraph of prose or line of poetry. In this case, the poet asks and those that are systematic take over from there. But, we know that the poet hasn't stopped asking and answering life questions. If someone were to use this as an argument against the usefullness of poetry, I would say that they must not take the order of the quote lightly. The author himself appears to put meaning and thought into his writing, therefore we cannot assume that he is casting the poet, ultimately, in a negative light. The poet is necessary for the question.