This garden at Missouri Botanical Garden showcases plants and flowers from all over the world.

At the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, visitors can explore a 15-acre Japanese garden, or walk through a simulated rainforest within a half-acre geodesic dome. But the Missouri Botanical Garden isn't just a beautiful place to spend the afternoon. It's also a leading research center and a front-runner in the race to save endangered plant species.

In "Raven's World," Garden director Peter Raven and Alan Alda discuss the pressing need to conserve Earth's biodiversity- a term Raven himself helped coin in the 1980's. "Biodiversity" means the riot of plants and animals that make up an ecosystem, and the myriad relationships among them.

Alan gets a tour of the dome and its endangered plant species from Peter Raven

Part of Raven's mission is to help people understand the importance of biodiversity to our physical lives and spiritual lives alike. With his Garden, which he has directed for thirty years, Raven hopes to impress upon his visitors- including Alan- how each of us has a direct impact on our planet's future.

For more on this topic, see the web feature:
"Frontiers Profile: Peter Raven"