by Bradley Shavit Artson

About the author: Bradley Shavit Artson is a rabbi and author.

Of all that the Holy Blessed One created in the world, God created nothing without a purpose. —The Talmud

The wondrous variety of living things is under assault. Precious ecosystems, including 50 percent of the wetlands in the continental United States and 90 percent of the lowland coniferous forests in the Pacific Northwest, are already gone. Species, too, are suffering unprecedented loss: Scientists estimate that from 5 to 20 percent of the tropical forest species will become extinct in the next 30 years. Stuart Pimm notes in the journal Science that current extinction rates are 100 to 1,000 times their prehuman levels.

Since everything is dependent on the continuing vitality of the biosphere, this threat to biological diversity not only threatens the human species but also diminishes the vast splendor...