Book Review: What Has Nature Ever Done for Us?

'What Has Nature Ever Done for Us?' is one of the many books that I had sitting in my mini library not being read, despite the fact that I really wanted to, partly because I didn't really have the time and partly because I had so many books to read.  But, I'm glad I decided to finally pull it out of the box all my books now sit in and give it a read.  

The author, Tony Juniper, is a British campaigner and environmentalist who advises on sustainability and was the Executive Director of Friends of the Earth.  However, if you think that the Friends of the Earth connection means that this book is going to be wishy washy, slightly hippy, and full of emotion instead of facts you'd be very wrong.  Instead, it is very to the point and full of researched data, coupled with information that Juniper has collected in his role as a sustainability adviser to many companies and governments.  All this whilst still being a very easy read.

The book itself looks at the services that nature has been and still is providing for us completely free of charge and which we completely take for granted.  In fact, these services are so taken for granted most of us don't even realise they are happening.  If put into actual financial terms it has been calculated that these services are worth twice the global GDP.  These services include bees pollinating our food, the recycling of nutrients and carbon capture in our soils, oxygen production in forests, birds protecting crops from 'pest' species, corals and mangroves protecting coastlines from storms, and the, as yet, untapped genetic codebook in the natural world which still have potential pharmaceutical uses.

However, the loss of these services would not just be a financial one with us having to actually pay to do the services ourselves, but there are also additional negative knock on effects which are far more important then the loss of finances.  Take, for example, the Indian vultures whose populations have been decimated by the use of the painkiller diclofenac in livestock which the vultures fed on.  The concentration that had accumulated in the vultures bodies has led to kidney failure in the birds and the loss of these birds meant that the free service they provided of removing carcasses from the landscape was gone.  The financial cost for this service to be done by humans is large and practically unattainable for many people in the area.  But the main knock on effect wasn't the finances but the rise in rabies related deaths in the human population.  With no vultures around to be the led consumers of the carcasses stray dogs began eating the meat and their population dramatically increased, along with the number of dogs carrying rabies and the number of dog bites in humans.  

Perhaps the most interesting part of this book was the way it looked at how our financial systems are run and the idea that pervades through them that nature and economy are separate issues and, of course, that we shouldn't allow one (nature) to affect the growth of the other (finances).  But, as Juniper points out, this is a false economy.  So many of our industries rely on these free services (fishing being the most obvious one) and destroying nature would have a serious negative impact on the global economy.  And yet, most of our economic advisers and ministers seem to be incapable of moving away from the old school idea we have of economy to include this crucial component.  Some companies are starting to realise the important steps they need to take, including M&S and Unilever, but we really need our Governments to take the next step too.  These services aren't limitless as we live in a closed system and losing them would be devastating.  

This is a great book and I would definitely recommend reading it (especially if you're a financial adviser).  The phrase 'but we just can't afford it' just isn't accurate now that we know just how much we rely on nature to keep us safe, healthy, and alive.  The fact is we can't afford to not put nature first.  I will end with Juniper's ending sentences (and my favourite in the book) which is 'The alternative is to carry on as we are now.  After all, what had nature ever done for us?'