We are living amid a biodiversity crisis the world has not seen since the extinction of the dinosaurs. According to a recent study as many as one million species are at risk of extinction worldwide, due in large part to deforestation, hunting, overfishing, climate change, and other human activities.
Only weeks ago, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported a staggering 23 species — including 11 birds, eight freshwater mussels, two fish, a bat, and a plant — were officially extinct — a shocking announcement and a “permanent loss to our nation’s natural heritage.”
The effects of this crisis are not just environmental, but also financial. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development estimates that the economic value of the services our planet’s biodiversity provides is around $140 trillion a year. But assigning a dollar value to the benefits of living in a healthy environment is virtually unquantifiable.
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