Buddhism regards all existence in the universe as life, recognising that everything, including trees and rocks and even the tiniest grain of sand, inherently possesses the life-state of Buddhahood, and as such, is infinitely noble and precious.
Daisaku Ikeda ‘The New Human Revolution’ vol.15 p22

When our ‘inner universe’ exists in dynamic harmony with the external universe, life force is transformed creatively into compassion, love, wisdom, and reason. But, when the inner universe has lost its essential rhythm, that energy takes destructive, aggressive, domineering forms like greed and evil impulses, which convert the inner life into a desolate wasteland. External desertification of the planet corresponds precisely with spiritual desertification of the force of life.
Daisaku Ikeda. ‘The Environmental Problem and Buddhism’. p12