Economists calculate the total value of ecosystem services – such as water purification, soil building, and pollination of food crops – at over $33 trillion each year, twice as large as the entire world’s economy. Nature does it all free of charge. Life is a diversified portfolio, but we are drawing down our capital and stealing from the future. Our economy is consuming its planetary host. The end result is inevitable: bankruptcy.
(From Untamed, by Will Harlan)