Nothing Real Can Be Threatened

Made curious by my wife's enthusiasm for the ideas of Eckhart Tolle, i'm currently reading his famous work "The Power of Now". Though i readily admit it's an eye-opener regarding the nature of time and space and the meaning of important statements by Christ and Buddha, i'm struggling with Tolle's notion of the "Unmanifested" and his claim that the real world isn't real at all. I agree with his statement that "(m)ost humans ... identify exclusively with their own physical and psychological form, unconscious of essence" and that therefore "they live in fear ... because every form is highly unstable". But when he goes on to say, "If some cosmic convulsion brought about the end of our world, the Unmanifested would remain totally unaffected by this", and corroborates the idea with this quote: "Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists" (p.115), i feel an urge to protest. Is everything we do to uphold human rights and conserve biodiversity unnecessary, i wonder, if manifested form is only an illusion anyway? Are the beauty and perfection of Nature superfluous things unworthy of protection? Do i worry in vain for the survival of the Earth's species? Should i imitate the ascets and hermits of old, then, retire from the world and spend my days fasting and meditating, leaving human civilization to rot from within through its own decadence and kill in its wake every single life form this miraculous planet has given birth to? (picture by Diana Calvario)