For too long, it's been so easy to take for granted the benefit of natural systems to quality of life that we've treated them as though they will be free and functional forever. But in the last few years, the value of the services we receive from the Earth has become increasingly apparent, not only in terms of sentiment, but in terms of dollars and cents. In other words, we're figuring out that preservation offers greater economic gain than resource extraction, and realizing that accounting for what we're losing now -- and what we stand to lose if we don't calculate the dollar value of things like bees and rainforests and biodiversity -- may save us in the long term. Worldchanging's archive of material on this topic is quite extensive, as it's a key example of a new solution for saving our most ancient assets.
Apiculture and Colony Collapse Disorder
What are NYC's Street Trees Worth? A Cool $122 Million
Ecosystem Goods and Services: Series Introduction
Ecosystem Goods and Services: The Biophysical Basis
Ecosystem Goods and Services: Valuation 101
Showing the Local Value of Ecosystem Services
Green Water and Sustainable Agriculture
A Pair of Ecological Economics Textbooks
ATEAM: Mr. T Takes on Ecosystem Services
Biodiversity Meets the Bottom Line
Joshua Farley, Ecological Economist
The $1 million Per Square Kilometer Solution
What's a Forest Worth? More Than you Might Think
Environmental Accounting and the New Wealth of Nations
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment: The Business Implications
Mainstreaming of Environmental Economics
The Week in Ecosystem Services
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