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What Has Nature Ever Done To Us? by Tony Juniper

by | 18-11-2016 16:44



In January 2013, Tony Juniper?s book ?What Has Nature Ever Done For Us?? was published. The book carries an interesting tagline as part of its tittle, ?How Money Really Does Grow On Trees?. The man is among many things an independent sustainability and environment adviser, Prince's Charities International Sustainability Unit Special Advisor and Senior Associate with the University of Cambridge Program for Sustainability Leadership). His spoken and written message is on sustainability and as we are all aware, the environment is one such pillar of sustainability that is as irreplaceable as it is indispensable. 
In the book ?What Has Nature Ever Done For Us? How Money Really Does Grow On Trees?  the writer narrates a message that the entire world should take heed of regarding the environment emphasising on the natural services offered by nature to life on earth itself, linking these services to their function in the progress of economic development. Highly written of in the book is how mankind takes nature or environmental services for granted with little consideration to their finite characteristics as a result of our non-action in giving back to or treating nature in the light of sustainability to ensure a perpetual rollout of its services.  
 On one side of the scale the book gives praise to the self-regulating design of nature for example how birds protect fruit harvests, how coral reefs protect coasts from storms and how the rainforests absorb billions of tonnes of carbon released from cars and power stations. On another side it issues out a stern warning of how short-sighted ill treatment of nature leads to what is equally a domino effect wherein one simple action becomes the great threat to nature in more ways than we can imagine. An outstanding example of this phenomenon in the book is told in the anecdote of India's scavenging vultures, having been killed off by drugs administered to cattle, and in the end leading to an epidemic of rabies. 
Long story short, this books gives an excellent and over the top oration of the environment and its otherwise taken-for-granted services that are weighed versus other services deemed more important. In other words it is a matter of the unseen and overlooked services that nature provides us with versus the tangible economic, social and cultural gains being earned by disturbance of the natural systems as we consume unsustainably its resources. Such makes clarity of the tagline in the title, ?How Money Really Does Grow On Trees? clarifying how great the economic gains from nature are, though coming at a severe cost, one that we may be unable to over one day.
This is one book that drives anyone towards a different outlook on the environment, an outlook that is somewhat conventional or more precisely orthodox. It drives one to appreciate how the Earth in its abundance that we continue to exploit blindly gives its ecosystem services to all humanity free of charge. The author in driving one towards an orthodox environmental outlook, breaks down how ecosystems and their services support every aspect of our life, and takes one into an investigative drive of what would be of our Earthly lives if we had to pay for the priceless services given to us by nature. This articulate inquiry is by far the best if not the only one thus far which leads us to admit and appreciate how much debt we owe to our Earth. 
 It makes up by far one of the greatest compelling arguments why nature needs to be conserved and the environment protected. After reading the package which is well over three hundred pages, if one is not motivated,  driven or scared enough of environmental wrongs and towards doing something about the protection of the environment they probably did not understand the message which is impossible considering how the script is well-put and its literature simplified  for greater understanding. The only reason that would not move one towards action after reading the book is utter ignorance to the important message and warnings that the book seeks to dish out.