Conservation almost always takes a backseat to human economic concerns even though the human economy relies on nature. The economic turmoil of the last year has reinforced this prejudice, yet the downturn in the economy offers some lessons for conservation professionals. For example, the political leaders who were supposed to provide oversight of economic institutions ignored repeated warnings about weaknesses in the financial system, and when the crisis came they acted shocked and surprised. Their response has been to pump hundreds of billions of dollars of public money into mismanaged businesses to keep the global economy from collapsing while genuine economic reform languishes. If leaders ignore warnings about the economy, their highest priority, then how can conservation professionals make their warnings heard about the dire consequences of losses of biological diversity?