Historical Awareness of Biodiversity preservation: others refer to this as biodiversity’s ‘‘transformative value.’’ Philosopher Norton (1987) explains how interactions with biodiversity can help us reconsider our consumerist impulses and make us convert to lifeways that preserve the biodiversity that provided the impetus for transformation Biodiversity’s aesthetic value – the beauty of an individual organism and its adaptations, of landscapes, of intricate ecological processes, of the sheer riot of different life forms – may effect this kind of transformation When biologists suggest that biodiversity may transform us, may reawaken our biophilic impulses, they still place the locus of its value in the human valuer Some biologists take a different tack and assert that biodiversity has intrinsic value, independent of a human valuer This concept is difficult to prove empirically and therefore difficult for a scientist to assert Yet given the preceding definitions of ‘‘biodiversity,’’ if biodiversity is the totality of life forms on earth, their interactions, and the processes that gave rise to them and to us, it makes it a more complicated proposition to reject the notion of biodiversity’s intrinsic value out of hand This notion takes a turn for the spiritual, and, in fact, some biologists also discuss biodiversity’s spiritual value Ehrenfeld (1981), who would become the founding editor of Conservation Biology, wrote of ‘‘The Noah Principle’’: species should be conserved because they exist and because this existence is itself but the present expression of a continuing historical process of immense antiquity and majesty Long-standing existence in Nature is deemed to carry with it the unimpeachable right to continued existence Some biologists (see quotes in Takacs, 1996) agree that the value inherent in biodiversity makes it sacred and others put the locus of value in humans, and they discuss the spiritual nourishment that contact with biodiversity brings The multiplicity of meanings of ‘‘biodiversity’’ is reflected in the multiplicity of values biologists find in it For those biologists who would raise awareness of biodiversity’s plight, it makes sense to speak for as many different values – and therefore to as many different audiences – as possible International Awareness Grows, Biodiversity Continues to Dwindle Efforts to raise awareness about biodiversity continue unabated One-hundred and sixty-eight nations have signed the Convention on Biological Diversity, whose objectives are the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resourcesy (Convention on Biological Diversity, 2011a, b) Despite nearly 20 years of meetings and plans and firm targets (see, e.g., the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020, Convention on Biological Diversity, 2011c), and with the heralding of 2011–2020 as the ‘‘United Nations Decade on Biodiversity,’’ the web of life on Earth continues to unravel The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, despite noting some tepid bright spots (e.g., more nations 125 with biodiversity plans and a slower rate of tropical forest loss), nonetheless asserts that a quarter of plant species are threatened, amphibians and coral reefs lead other species groups on the march to extinction, and most habitats of the world are increasingly fragmented or degraded (Convention on Biological Diversity, 2010) Similarly, the European Union has a formal Biodiversity Strategy, with the heading, ‘‘Our life insurance, our natural capital’’ (European Commission, 2011) Recognizing that only 11% of key ecosystems and 17% of species and habitats protected by the EU are in a favorable condition, the Strategy nonetheless recognizes that their previous biodiversity target for 2010 would not be met, but pledges to better this time around Inspired by an idea from Wilson, the ‘‘Encyclopedia of Life’’ seeks to establish ‘‘a webpage for every species’’ (more than 900,000 as of this writing) as a resource ‘‘to increase awareness and understanding of living nature’’ for ‘‘the general public, enthusiastic amateurs, educators, students and professional scientists from around the world’’ (EOL, 2011) The specter of global climate change has provided new urgency for efforts to raise awareness about the manifold threats to biodiversity, with new mechanisms like carbon offsetting for ‘‘Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD)’’ providing new financial means for preserving tropical biodiversity (Takacs 2010) Biologists are playing a key role in designing mechanisms and standards to ensure that funds invested in carbon offsetting conserve biodiversity; for example, the Climate, Community, and Biodiversity Alliance requires carbon offsets to result in ‘‘Net Positive Biodiversity Impacts’’ and requires biodiversity impact monitoring (CCB, 2011) Historical Awareness of Biodiversity Redux We can read the title of this encyclopedia entry in many ways Smithsonian tropical biologist and biodiversity advocate Erwin says (in Takacs, 1996, pp 100–101): I’ve always kind of been ahead of the game or ahead of the thinking in my own little field of entomology y I think there will be individuals who can influence the direction of change And I’d like to be among them, for whatever little part I might be able to play Ideas can act as forces of nature They can change ecologies They can reshape how we value and therefore how we treat nature On behalf of biodiversity, biologists are making history: they are changing the course of events so that human history and natural history will unfurl to their liking This encyclopedia attempts to inform, to raise awareness of both the science of biodiversity and the conscience of those who study it, revere it, and wish to see it preserved History suggests that two phenomena will continue: the biological complexity of the earth will continue to diminish, and biologists will continue to look for strategies that will compel us to care about what they care about and support their authority to speak for those entities Biologists have attempted to raise our awareness of biodiversity: the complexity of real world organisms, species, and processes commingled with biologists’ factual, political, emotional, ethical, aesthetic,