Nature's Price Tag (07/25/13) (Rebroadcast)

Climate One

Social Sciences, News, News Commentary, Earth Sciences, Science

4.7 • 583 Ratings

🗓️ 20 January 2017

⏱️ 59 minutes

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Summary

An emerging area of economics aims to put a price on nature as a way of justifying preserving it in societies dominated by the wisdom of markets. A mountain stream, for example, provides many economic benefits beyond people who own property near it or drink water from it. The same is said of bees that pollinate our food, wetlands that cleans water, and trees that drink up carbon dioxide. If nature were a corporation it would be a large cap stock. Putting a precise tag on something long seen as free is a conceptual leap. However many large companies are starting to realize the extent to which their profits rely on well operating ecosystems. Larry Goulder, Professor of Environmental and Resource Economics, Stanford Tony Juniper, Associate Professor, University of Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership; Special Advisor to The Prince of Wales International Sustainability Unit This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on July 25, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This Climate One podcast is sponsored by General Motors.
0:05.0	How will we power our future? Can we create a healthy and clean economy?
0:10.3	Climate One at the Commonwealth Club is at the forefront of the global debate about energy, economy, and the environment.
0:16.8	Bringing together the brightest and most provocative leaders of our time,
0:20.6	Climate One is the place where big ideas get heard.
0:23.6	With thoughtful and insightful discussions on policy, business, science, and culture, Climate One founder Greg Dalton gets to the heart of the matter.
0:31.6	It's our future. It's time to come together.
0:36.2	What is the value of Mother Nature?
0:38.3	I'm Greg Dalton, and this is Climate One, where we're changing the conversation about energy,
0:43.3	the economy, and the environment.
0:45.3	Each week, we welcome a few guests to join our live audience at the Commonwealth Club.
0:49.3	The following program was recorded in 2013.
0:52.3	It features two experts discussing the financial value of nature in a world that needs to transition away from fossil fuels.
1:00.4	We reached into our vault to bring you this program, Nature's Price Tag.
1:05.0	Today we're discussing the value of Mother Nature.
1:07.4	The global economy depends on natural systems, but nature often gets short
1:11.2	change when it comes to measuring economic output. Air conditioning counts in GDP, but shade
1:16.3	provided by a tree does not. Soil for food production and clean water for industry and human
1:21.2	uses are also heavily discounted in today's economic thinking. I'm Greg Dalton, and over
1:26.4	the next hour, we'll look at the financial value of nature
1:29.3	in a world that needs to transition away from fossil fuels
1:32.3	that are destabilizing the Earth's operating system.
	...

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