Nature Inc. takes its lead from economists who have worked out that ecosystem services are worth more than the total of all the world’s national economies.

Since life so mysteriously emerged from the chemistry of a new planet billions of years ago, nature has been experimenting. Humankind has failed to put a price tag on the services nature provides. The result is that estimates of economic growth take no account of the destruction of ecosystems, even though - for example - in disappearing fish stocks the economic costs are obvious. Nature Inc. breaks new ground in assessing the financial benefits of conserving ecological processes. The series returns in 2011.