I am an applied conservation scientist, which means I do science with direct application to the ongoing biodiversity crisis. The Earth is under immense pressure from human enterprise, only 4% of mammal biomass is still wild (96% humans and livestock), and just 23% of land and 13% of the oceans can be considered intact. Still, there are solutions for balancing human needs with those of a healthy planet. Finding these solutions usually involves an elucidation of the trade-offs and synergies among economic production, ecosystem services and conservation in natural and human modified ecosystems.