"Earth's ecosystems - forests, wetlands, coral reefs, and the like - are among humanity's most precious assets, offering such vital services as climate control and water purification. So why are they being rapidly destroyed? A major reason is that protecting them has been seen as largely a charitable venture, and philanthropy isn't up to the job. Increasing numbers of environmentally minded people are therefore trying to harness a more potent force - self-interest - to preserve our environmental endowment.

Theirs is the quest portrayed in The New Economy of Nature. In this timely and provocative book, Gretchen Daily, one of the world's leading ecologists, and Katherine Ellison, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, give us an informative look at a new "new economy" that recognizes the full value of natural systems and the potential profits in protecting them."--BOOK JACKET.