[fsckboy]

why shouldn't we do everything in our power, for any cost, to replenish and improve habitat for them so they can survive for our descendants to see

you don't really mean what you've said, everything in our power? for any cost?... If we literally spent every bit of cash we had to do as you say and maximize biodiversity, our descendents would survey the biodiversity while wearing animal skins and hunter gathering and striving to someday reinvent agriculture, fertilizers, pesticides, and internal combustion engines.

yes, i'm not being serious. neither were you.

[argc]

No I was simply using strong language to suggest that I feel strongly about it. I'm not sure where to draw the line but as a concrete example, I'd consider voting for a law which created a large tax to fund biodiversity protection. Say 10% of income for high earners, or perhaps a corporate tax, etc etc. At the end of the day its almost an aesthetic decision, I'd like to live in a world with high biodiversity and where humans are well integrated with nature, where there's animal crossings over roads and all kinds of ridiculous things like that, and I'd be willing to pay for it with some non-trivial amount. Anyway, I'm commenting on hacker news, don't take me too seriously.

[pvaldes]

Biodiversity is part of the economy

[fsckboy]

not till its for sale.

the money you pay your housekeeper? part of the economy. you cleaning your own house? not part of the economy.

your point is valid, that it "has a value" and the economy "depends on it", and there are economists and critics who have said "we need to fix this", but definitionally economics at present is what it is and isn't what it isn't.