tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post4932245651867802146..comments2023-11-03T11:37:04.473+00:00Comments on nothing new under the sun: What is an ecosystem worth? Is capitalism King Midas?byron smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17938334606675769903noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-25340474433884805312011-02-24T17:33:27.081+00:002011-02-24T17:33:27.081+00:00Speaking of inequality, some eye-opening stats fro...Speaking of inequality, <a href="http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/02/income-inequality-in-america-chart-graph" rel="nofollow">some eye-opening stats from the US</a>.byron smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17938334606675769903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-83584751262467535522011-01-30T04:20:28.213+00:002011-01-30T04:20:28.213+00:00CP: an extended reflection upon the myth of King M...CP: <a href="http://climateprogress.org/2011/01/27/raffi-on-child-honouring-the-right-to-a-future-and-tweeting-while-earth-burns/" rel="nofollow">an extended reflection upon the myth of King Midas</a>.byron smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17938334606675769903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-56712177120658287042010-11-08T23:17:10.191+00:002010-11-08T23:17:10.191+00:00Sure, in their proper subservient place, economic ...Sure, in their proper subservient place, economic arguments might carry some weight. The issue is that the "some people" you mention who "might" take the argument in this direction (expanding the logic of the market into every area of life) are generally those with all the money (and so all the power) and who have an ideological commitment to pursuing this agenda.byron smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17938334606675769903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-13955429357431820852010-11-08T22:45:41.909+00:002010-11-08T22:45:41.909+00:00Possibly some people might take it that way. But i...Possibly some people might take it that way. But it depends on how this information is presented. It should be a part of a package of arguments that I imagine being presented a little like this:<br /><br />A/ It's an important ecosystem in its own right <br /><br />B/ Will our children and grandchildren forgive us if we wipe out the last .....?(insert cute cuddly animal or wild-flower or treeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-44632167053243427442010-11-08T19:18:37.900+00:002010-11-08T19:18:37.900+00:00Proponents that economically value ecosystem servi...<i>Proponents that economically value ecosystem services are not recommending that we just hand over the planet to 'our new corporation overlords'!</i><br />Maybe not explicitly, but they are saying that putting a price tag on everything is the best way of determining what we ought to do, producing a uniform moral-monetary calculus to enable us to perform cost-benefit ratios in a single &byron smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17938334606675769903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-62026822126147353322010-11-04T23:05:25.927+00:002010-11-04T23:05:25.927+00:00I appreciate the concern! It’s like the so called ...I appreciate the concern! It’s like the so called ‘hydrogen economy’ which would only massively increase the amount of energy we need to use to split the water in the first place, and maintains the suburban dwelling plan that could be retrofitted along New Urban lines within 20 to 30 years… avoiding the need for most of our car trips in the first place!<br /><br />However, back to valuing Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-11496537738434050432010-11-04T14:37:11.525+00:002010-11-04T14:37:11.525+00:00PS "Park it, buy it, trade it, publish it&quo...PS "Park it, buy it, trade it, publish it" isn't a bad summary of some useful options (decreasingly useful as you go through the list, but I take it that is the point). However, each of these addresses the symptoms (perhaps somewhat successfully), but without touching the root cause. If in ten years' time we end up with more national parks but also more greedy little consumers byron smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17938334606675769903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-20680251383227536042010-11-04T14:31:42.138+00:002010-11-04T14:31:42.138+00:00Pete - Yes, you're right to see some very sign...Pete - Yes, you're right to see some very significant shifts in economic assumptions (and even the founding of the modern disciple of economics by Adam Smith here in Edinburgh) at the time of the industrial revolution. I'm quite sympathetic to the idea that embedded within some of these new assumptions are (many of) the roots of contemporary ecological degradation and destruction. I thinkbyron smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17938334606675769903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-65306620847628509052010-11-04T10:44:25.406+00:002010-11-04T10:44:25.406+00:00My view is use whatever works. We've just got ...My view is use whatever works. We've just got to save the biodiversity! Then after some of our madness has been reversed we might have a chance to help plundered regions regrow and recover.<br /><br />So in some regions it makes <i>stacks</i> of economic sense to save the ecosystem. But that doesn't mean we overlay a new market worldview over the whole of nature! That's just one Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-10825202625401325882010-11-03T00:08:25.466+00:002010-11-03T00:08:25.466+00:00One might wonder actually, whether the root cause ...One might wonder actually, whether the root cause of the problem is modern economics. If we trace the history of modern economics it seems that the beginnings of mass environmental destruction began at the same time as the roots of modern economics, ie. the enlightenment and the industrial revolution that followed it. So has economics as we know it been the real killer of the enviroment all alongPete Woodhttp://www.ropescrossingchurch.anglican.asn.au/noreply@blogger.com