E.O. Wilson on why biodiversity matters

"Because humanity is a biological species living in a biological environment. Because like all species we are exquisitely adapted in everything, from our behavior to our genetics to our physiology to that particular environment in which we live. The Earth is our home. The rest of life is the critical part of that home. Unless we preserve the rest of life as a sacred duty, we will be endangering ourselves by destroying the home in which we evolve and on which we completely depend." (E.O. Wilson, the renowned evolutionary biologist and ant expert, was asked on a recent edition of the Diane Rehm Show to deliver a 45-second elevator speech on why biodiversity matters. The above was his answer and, as he said proudly at the end, "exactly 45 seconds!")