The Economic Invisibility of Nature

This is a link to a TED lecture that does a great job of describing the problems that arise because we do not measure natural capital. We make decisions that reduce natural capital at great cost to society. It has been estimated that $2-4 trillion of natural capital was lost in the year of the financial collapse in which $2 trillion of private capital was lost. We gave lots of attention to loss of private capital but little to the loss of natural capital. We also seem to be less concerned about the loss of natural capital that impacts some of our poorest communities. For example, the decision to limit the rise in global warming to 2 degrees means that coral reefs are doomed to extinction. We also need to more aware of the benefits that are provided by nature. The Amazon Rainforest is a rain factory. What happens there affects the amount and distribution of rain globally. We also are unaware of the contribution of species to natural capital. Bees are essential to crop development but we are doing things that have caused a decline in population of bees. These problems and others are described very well in the lecture. The major point is the we have to make the economic contribution of nature visible.