Interesting article entitled: What is nature worth? There's a powerful economic argument for preserving our living natural environment. Here's an thought-provoking excerpt: "Clark asked what practice would yield the whalers and humanity the most money: Cease hunting and let the blue whales recover in numbers and then harvest them sustainably forever, or kill the rest off as quickly as possible and invest the profits in growth stocks? The disconcerting answer for annual discount rates of more than 21 percent: Kill them all and invest the money.

"Now, let us ask, what is wrong with that argument? Colin Clark's implicit answer is simple. The dollars-and-cents value of a dead blue whale was based only on the measures relevant to the existing market -- that is, on the going price per unit weight of whale oil and meat. There are many other values, destined to grow along with our knowledge of living Balaenopterus musculus in science, medicine and aesthetics, in dimensions and magnitudes still unforeseen. What was the value of the blue whale in A.D. 1000? Close to zero. What will be its value in A.D. 3000? Essentially limitless, plus the gratitude of the generation then alive to those who, in their wisdom, saved the whale from extinction. No one can guess the full future value of any kind of animal, plant or microorganism. Its potential is spread across a spectrum of known and as-yet unimagined human needs..."

Meanwhile: yet another blistering indictment on the Bush Administration's environmental policies.