As the debate about how to revive our economy while sustaining our environment heats up, it's important to remember that the economic driver truly "too big to fail" is Mother Nature herself. Here's a look at the Top 10 things Mother Nature does for us for free, year after year, that we couldn't even begin to do ourselves without her:
As the debate about how to revive our economy while sustaining our environment heats up, it's important to remember that the economic driver truly "too big t... more
1
Pollination: Bees alone pollinate a third of the nation's food supply, and are vital to major economic drivers like California's billion dollar agriculture business.
2
NPP - Net Primary Production. The total amount of plant material produced by photosynthesis. Basis of entire food chain, and economy.
3
Plant and Animal Products: Think food, clothing, shelter, tools, fuel, furniture, medicine, paper, meat, milk, wool, and leather.
4
Cleaning the Air - plants filter out particulates in the air, soak up carbon dioxide and give off oxygen
5
Purifying the Water - nature's soils, watersheds, aquifers, clouds and snowbanks cleanse, store and transport water for us.
6
Mitigating Floods - floods create tens of billions of dollars in damage a year.
7
Detoxifying Pollutants - plants can soak up toxic metals, vinyl chloride and DDT. Sunflowers soaked up radiation after Chernobyl.
8
Controlling Pests and Disease - leaving ecosystems in place controls pests more safely, cheaply and effectively than pesticides.
9
Controlling Erosion - roots bind the soil in place, while root channels and animal burrows act like natural drainage networks, helping water soak deep into the ground.
10
Regulating Climate - Basically the only reason we're alive is because life makes the gases we breathe, the food we eat, and the temperatures we need.
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