Colonizing Planet Earth--World Changing Team

Realistic plan -- Go to Mars to learn how to manage Globe Earth....top notch thinking & discussion.

Colonizing Planet Earth

WorldChanging Team

August 12, 2007 3:24 PM

by WorldchangingCanada writer Karl Schroeder

If our civilization requires the resource equivalent of three earths to be sustainable, then we have to stop drawing on ecosystem services that are overstretched. In fact, maybe we should start acting like there are no ecosystem services available to us at all.

What's an ecosystem service? Here's Wikipedia's definition:

Ecosystem services are distinct from other ecosystem products and functions because there is human demand for these natural assets. Services can be subdivided into five categories: provisioning such as the production of food and water; regulating, such as the control of climate and disease; supporting, such as nutrient cycles and crop pollination; cultural, such as spiritual and recreational benefits; and preserving, which includes guarding against uncertainty through the maintenance of diversity.

Economically, ecosystem services provide us with assets that we would otherwise have to produce ourselves. The simplest example is water treatment, which is done for free by our aquifers. It's possible to directly measure the equivalent cost of a water treatment plant for a given set of wetlands or aquifer, which means you can exactly quantify the value of many ecosystem services. Pollination is another hugely important ecosystem service, which is provided largely for free by bees.

There's a lot of discussion about ecosystem services these days, and about our ecological footprint. The usual line is this: we're using three earths worth of resources, so we have to find a way to cut back or we're all sunk. This is true, but as I've pointed out before, there's a dramatic difference in terms of motivating people, between framing something as a positive, or as a negative. The "three earths" metaphor is good for scaring people, but it's a negative: it evokes images of austerity and sacrifice. If we want to motivate people to change things, it's always better to frame the change in terms of opportunity.

READ MORE, this is excellent forward thinking for creative change ........

http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/007092.html