Snce humans are so adamant about measuring everything (like measuring is God), we might as well use that mindset to measure more useful things. E.g., see French example: http://www.insnet.org/nl/insnl_spoton.rxml?id=56018&photo=163 (and I'm sure there are English sites about this as well). But perhaps an even better example of New Economy is that not everything is expressed in money. Accept that 'social cohesion' is something of value and comparable throughout the years, but not necessarily to compare with monetary metrics. Neither, for that matter, may polar bears be..
And as seeming contradiction to the above: as long as we DO measure evertything in money, then be consistent and also express nature's services in that way. If you value the life-long services that a tree provides to us (water and nutrient cycle regulation, oxygen production, CO2 absorption, etc etc) then the price of cutting it down may suddenly become visible. Eco-system service valuation has been done before and the results are staggering. Start using that on a massive scale will revolutionise the way decisions are being made, while the rules of the game do not change. Just the players.
Snce humans are so adamant about measuring everything (like measuring is God), we might as well use that mindset to measure more useful things. E.g., see French example: http://www.insnet.org/nl/insnl_spoton.rxml?id=56018&photo=163
ReplyDelete(and I'm sure there are English sites about this as well).
But perhaps an even better example of New Economy is that not everything is expressed in money. Accept that 'social cohesion' is something of value and comparable throughout the years, but not necessarily to compare with monetary metrics. Neither, for that matter, may polar bears be..
And as seeming contradiction to the above: as long as we DO measure evertything in money, then be consistent and also express nature's services in that way. If you value the life-long services that a tree provides to us (water and nutrient cycle regulation, oxygen production, CO2 absorption, etc etc) then the price of cutting it down may suddenly become visible.
ReplyDeleteEco-system service valuation has been done before and the results are staggering.
Start using that on a massive scale will revolutionise the way decisions are being made, while the rules of the game do not change. Just the players.