Biodiversity

“Only when the last tree has died and the last river poisoned and the last fish had been caught will we realize that we cannot eat money”.

-19th century Cree Indian saying

So…why should we care???

• Instrumental Value (their usefulness to us)– Economic Goods (food-90%, fuel, fiber,

lumber, paper, medicine-40%, etc…)– Ecological Services- maintain Earth/climate

balance– Information (bioinformatics/gene-prospecting)– Recreation

• Intrinsic Value (because they exist)– Existence, Aesthetic, Bequest (future

generatons)