NATURE
SOURCE of all VALUE
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#9
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NATURE / SOURCE OF ALL VALUE
EVERYTHING DEPENDS ON NATURE
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GO TOP
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Social and Economic Progress linked to Massive Degradation of Natural Capital
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LAND
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WATER
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AIR
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RESOURCES
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BIODIVERSITY
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ECOSYSTEMS
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To improve quality of life, nature has been exploited, depleted and degraded, but this is NOT sustainable.
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The State of the Environment / Natural Capital
Rapidly degrading but ignored in conventional financial and economic analysis
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Value Add ... the Contributions of Nature
Natural Systems are incredibly efficient, but operate very slowly unless the normal
equilibriums are disturbed, in which case there can be catasrophic dysruption
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Value Loss ... the Depletion and Degradation of Nature
Industry and Consumption has been responsible for the Depletion of Natural Resources
and the Degradation of the Environment since the beginning of the industrial era at zero cost
to the participants who have benefitted financially. This was wrong and must be changed.
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The critically important role of natural capital and natural systems
Nature ... natural capital and natural systems ... are of vital importance and the ultimate source of all value. The sun is the source of all energy, and a multitude of natural systems convert this energy into all sorts of other forms.
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NATURAL CAPITAL / ENVIRONMENT
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Social and Economic Progress has been achieved by the depletion and degradation of Natural Capital
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LAND
Natural
Essential habitat for all sorts of living organizms
... more
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LAND
Agricultural
Huge land areas now used for agriculture
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LAND
Built up
Much land now built over with various types of economic development
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FRESH
AIR
Fresh air is very good for human health and longevity
... more
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FRESH
WATER
Without water there is no life, and now becoming increasingly scarce
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OCEAN
WATER
A huge energy sink, and where all the world's garbage accumulates
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MINERAL RESOURCES
The raw materials for most of the useful products we use every day
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FOSSIL
FUELS
The sources of power that made the industrial revolution possible
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CLIMATE
SYSTEMS
The essential mechanisms that have kept the climate stable until now
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ECOLOGICAL SYSTEMS
The many mechanisms that serve to recycle everything in nature
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BIODIVERSITY - FAUNA
Animals, birds, fish, reptiles, insects and other life forms
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BIODIVERSITY - FLORA
Millions of species of plants that occupy a complex ecosystem
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Social and Economic Progress has been achieved in large part
by the depletion and degradation of Natural Capital
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Value Loss ... the Depletion and Degradation of Nature
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LAND
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WATER
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AIR
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RESOURCES
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BIODIVERSITY
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ECOSYSTEMS
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- Industrial production, agriculture and consumption by people are combining to deplete and degrade Natural Resources.
- Economic performance metrics have excluded and the depletion and degradation of the Environment since the beginning of the industrial era.
- People who have benefited financially have never been held to account regarding Natural Capital costs
- To improve quality of life for people, nature has been exploited, depleted and degraded, but this is NOT sustainable.
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Value Add ... the Contributions of Nature
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LAND
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WATER
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AIR
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RESOURCES
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BIODIVERSITY
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ECOSYSTEMS
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- Everything depends on natural systems ... this is the origin of ALL value add
- Natural Systems are incredibly complex, massive in scale, efficient and usually slow.
- When normal equilibriums are disturbed, there can be catasrophic dysruption.
- Modern industrial processes are disturbing natural systems on a massive scale which is likely to be catastrophic.
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OVERVIEW
NATURAL CAPITAL / ENVIRONMENT
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LAND
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LAND ... Natural
Essential habitat for all sorts of living organizms
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LAND ... Agricultural
Huge land areas now used for agriculture
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LAND ... Built up
Much land now built over with various types of economic development
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AIR
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FRESH AIR
Fresh air is very good for human health and longevity
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AIR POLLUTION
Air pollution has been a dangerous bye-product of the industrial age. Many of the highly visible air pollutants have been controlled more stringently in recent years but not the invisible gases like carbon dioxide and methane which are greenhouse gases associated with global temperature rise and all its consequences.
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WATER
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FRESH WATER
Without potable water there is no life, and now becoming increasingly scarce because of the massive consumption of water in modern industrial and agricultural systems, the increase in our global human population, and the changing weather patterns caused by global warming and gereenhouse gases.
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OCEAN WATER
The oceans are huge and an important part of the global ecosystem. They are a huge energy sink, and a very small rise in temperature represents a very large increase in their stored energy. Storm systems pull energy and water (as water vapor) from the oceans, and with higher temperatures the quantity of both energy and and water increase dramatically as manifested by the size of recent tropical storms.
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WATER POLLUTION
Even though the oceans are huge, the waste from the industrial production that serves our high consumption society has now reached a scale that even the oceans cannot cope.
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RESOURCES
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MINERAL RESOURCES
The raw materials for most of the useful products we use every day
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FOSSIL FUELS
The sources of power that made the industrial revolution possible
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BIODIVERSITY
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BIODIVERSITY - FAUNA
Animals, birds, fish, reptiles, insects and other life forms
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BIODIVERSITY - FLORA
Millions of species of plants that occupy a complex ecosystem
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ECOLOGICAL SYSTEMS
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ECOLOGICAL SYSTEMS
The many mechanisms that serve to recycle everything in nature
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CLIMATE SYSTEMS
The essential mechanisms that have kept the climate stable until now |
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