No Economies Without Biodiversity: Why Our Markets Rely on the Complexity of Nature with Thomas Crowther
The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens
Nate Hagens
4.8 • 552 Ratings
🗓️ 14 May 2025
⏱️ 72 minutes
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Summary
There is only one known planet in the universe capable of meeting humanity's needs – Earth. And yet, our understanding and appreciation of the underlying complexity that makes it function remains limited. If we were able to grasp the transformative potential of biodiversity – specifically how it relates to biocomplexity – how might we change our behavior?
In this episode, Nate is joined by ecologist Thomas Crowther to discuss the critical importance of biodiversity as an intricate web of life that supports all other living beings, not just through the sheer number of species, but because of the complexity of interactions within ecosystems. Thomas highlights the power of data in empowering individuals to make informed choices that positively impact nature, and the critical need to address inequality in order to foster ecological recovery.
Could the power of data and knowledge catalyze humanity into valuing biodiversity for the sake of preserving ecological stability? How do local communities and initiatives play a key role in revitalizing productive ecosystems, and how can we change our patterns of consumption to better support them? And perhaps most importantly, if we come to understand the critical interconnectedness of the biosphere, might we finally rediscover our place within it, as one species among millions fostering life on this Blue-Green Earth?
(Conversation recorded on April 15th, 2025)
About Thomas Crowther:
Thomas Crowther is an ecologist studying the connections between biodiversity and climate change. He is chair of the advisory council for the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, as well as the founder of Restor: an online, open-data platform for the global restoration movement. He was also a professor in the Department of Environmental Systems Science at ETH Zurich, where he started Crowther Lab, an interdisciplinary group of scientists exploring how global-scale ecological systems interact to regulate the climate. In 2021, the World Economic Forum named Thomas a Young Global Leader for his work on the protection and restoration of biodiversity.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is the crux of the whole problem. |
| 0:01.9 | Individual parts of nature are more valuable than the biocomplexity of nature. |
| 0:05.5 | If we can build markets to value that biocomplexity, |
| 0:08.8 | maybe there's the potential for those markets to actually propagate complexity over simplicity. |
| 0:14.0 | Now, critics would say using the same broken economic system to try and fix everything |
| 0:18.4 | will only cause more harm than good. |
| 0:20.5 | So the opposing argument is that we just need will only cause more harm than good. So the opposing |
| 0:21.6 | argument is that we just need to distribute wealth more equitably to the local landowners and the |
| 0:26.7 | stewards of nature who are the ones that work with nature and who value biodiversity inherently. |
| 0:32.4 | And these are the people who can transform our future. |
| 0:37.4 | You're listening to the Great Simplification. |
| 0:40.6 | I'm Nate Hagen's. |
| 0:41.7 | On this show, we describe how energy, the economy, the environment and human behavior all |
| 0:47.2 | fit together and what it might mean for our future. |
| 0:50.7 | By sharing insights from global thinkers, we hope to inform and inspire more humans to play emergent roles in the coming great simplification. |
| 1:05.0 | Today I'm joined by ecologist Thomas Crowther, who studies the connections between biodiversity and climate change in |
| 1:13.9 | Earth systems. Tom is the founder of Crowther Lab, as well as the chair of the Advisory Council |
| 1:21.0 | of the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, as well as the founder of Restore, an online platform for global |
| 1:30.4 | restoration of ecology movement. |
| 1:33.6 | Crowther's landmark research published in 2015 transformed our understanding of the world's |
| 1:39.5 | tree cover, estimating there are around 3 trillion trees globally. |
| 1:45.0 | His follow-up paper four years later estimated that if viable land could be protected, |
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