We humans are totally dependent on a healthy planet, and yet nature is so generous that most of us live our lives without giving her a second thought. At the most basic level all of our foodstuff comes from nature. Only plants can manufacture food from "raw materials." But plants and animals throughout history have also provided man with clothing, shelter, tools, fuel, timber, oils, dyes, and myriad other products. And it is estimated that 25% of modern drugs are derived from plants as are all high yield food crops responsible for the recent "green revolution."

We have only just begun to tap the potential genetic and bioengineering benefits that might be derived from even the most obscure of species, few of which have been adequately studied. For example, the naked mole rat of Africa, a blind, underground creature, recently discovered, that lives the human equivalent of a thousand years. And does not get cancer! We know little else about this amazing species. What other secrets are rooting around in the African dirt?

Nature and biodiversity also exert a profound spiritual and aesthetic impact on people, a benefit hard to put a dollar value on, so it is mostly ignored in political circles. The presence of life animates our world and enhances our emotional response to it. The complexity of the aesthetic response is suggested by the variety of inspirations, from a mountain stream in the Great Smokies to a forest of butterflies in Mexico. Or simply gazing across the Grand Canyon of Arizona. These experiences evoke intense feelings in people, of joy, even rapture and transcendence. Such mystical events are among the most sought after by our species and happen most often from the sudden insight that all things are one. From such epiphanies came the enlightenment of Christ and Muhammad as they wandered the desert, and Lord Buddha as he meditated under the Bodhi tree. One final question-how much is enlightenment worth?