“For too long now, the preservation of nature has taken a back seat to the rapid progress and profit of the economy … the main reason we need to protect nature is not an environmental reason, it’s to keep the economy going. This book is Juniper’s attempt to bring the ecology versus economy debate into the mainstream for the first time...” -- Craig Manning, Independent Publisher 

 This week's guest on REPORT FROM SANTA FE is Tony Juniper, British campaigner, sustainability advisor, leading environmentalist, and author of “What Has Nature Ever Done for Us?” Juniper co-authored “Harmony: A New Way of Looking at Our World” with His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, for whom he serves as a Special Advisor on Sustainability. Juniper is one of the top ten environmental figures of the last thirty years. He began as an ornithologist with Birdlife International. A world expert on parrots, Juniper wrote “Spix's Macaw: The Race to Save the World's Rarest Bird,” and co-authored the award-winning “Parrots – A Guide to the Parrots of the World.” He is recognized among other activities for his work as Executive Director of Friends of the Earth in Great Britain and Vice Chair of Friends of the Earth International from 2000-2008. He was recently appointed the first President of the Society for the Environment. In “What Has Nature Ever Done for Us? How Money Really Does Grow on Trees” Tony Juniper points out that we think everything nature does for us — providing water, pollinating plants, generating oxygen, recycling miracles in the soil and much more — is free, but it isn't. Its economic value can, and has been, measured. Upon realizing what that value truly is, he feels that we should stop treating our natural systems in a destructive manner. During recent years, environmental debate worldwide has been dominated by climate change, carbon emissions and the greenhouse effect. But a number of academic, political, business and NGO initiatives indicate the emergence of a new wave of environmental attention focused on “natural capital,” “ecosystem services” and “biodiversity” -- things nature does for us. Juniper’s best-selling environmental book “What Has Nature Ever Done for Us” is filled with eye opening facts about the true value of Nature. He establishes his argument through riveting and accessible anecdotes that display just how important environmental balance is to a booming economy. --- Quotes: • “One of those rare books that will change how we see the world.” -- Michael Brune, Executive Director, Sierra Club • “Tony Juniper presses home the basic fact that seems to elude so many: Our economy is a subset of our natural world, not the other way around. Once one figures this out, much follows logically.” -- Bill McKibben, author of “Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet” and founder of 350.org