Ecosystem Services (9/12/11)

Published: Sept. 15, 2011, 5:43 p.m.

b'\\u201cHumanity needs nature to thrive.\\u201d For Peter Seligmann, who delivers that line, and Jib Ellison, who shares the stage with him at this Climate One panel, the abundant services provided by nature too often go unrecognized. So what are those services?, asks Climate One\\u2019s Greg Dalton. In basic terms, replies Seligmann, CEO, Conservation International, ecosystem services are what we get from the natural world. He assigns those services to one of four categories: provisions \\u2013 food, freshwater, and medicine; regulating \\u2013 climate, flood control on coasts; supporting: the soil and nutrient cycles; and cultural \\u2013 the places we live, the places that shape our belief systems. All of them are essential for people, he says, but \\u201cwe\\u2019ve lost track of the relationship that we have with nature and ecosystem services because we don\\u2019t think about our foods coming from a forest or a farm; it comes from the supermarket. There\\u2019s a real disconnect now.\\u201dJib Ellison, CEO, Blu Skye, a sustainability consultancy, emphasizes that business is just as indebted to the natural world. \\u201cIf you think about all the goods and services that you can buy in a store, all of it ultimately is coming from somewhere down the line out of nature.\\u201d \\u201cThe big companies in the world with visionary leaders are realizing,\\u201d he says, \\u201cthat the security of supply to serve their customers is at risk.\\u201d The grave threat to natural systems around the globe has convinced both men of the need for environmentalists to preach beyond the converted, and to engage with business, including giants such as Wal-Mart. \\u201cWhat I\\u2019ve always felt,\\u201d Seligmann says, \\u201cis that if the environmental community focuses on the fifteen percent of the world that are true, ardent environmentalists we\\u2019re losing, losing, losing. We\\u2019ve got to make the tent big enough for everybody. Over time, that creates trust.\\u201d An absolutely critical element to get us there, says Ellison, is transparency on costs. \\u201cThe sustainable economy is only going to come under one condition: When the lowest-priced good \\u2013the lowest-priced T-shirt at Wal-Mart \\u2013 is lowest priced precisely because it does the least harm,\\u201d he says.\\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices'