There are bargains, and then there are bargains

$60 millon dollars. That's what it would take to expand the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species to include some 160,000 species, including some that we haven't found yet, and provide the information we need to get a good feel for global biodiversity protection. That's the opinion of a group of leading conservation scientists, including E. O. Wilson. This in a paper appearing in Science entitled "The Barometer of Life."

Thus far, almost 50,000 species have been assessed for the IUCN Red List, at a cost of about $4 million per year. While some groups have been reasonably well assessed, others are woefully lacking information.

$60 million to understand what we have to do to preserve the future. A B-1 bomber goes for about $200 mill. You tell me...