People have always relied on natural resources like clean water, forests, soil, biodiversity, and more. According to an estimate by the World Economic Forum, more than half of the world’s gross domestic product is moderately or highly dependent on the environment. Or as one ecologist put it: if there were no nature, there would be no economy.
However, the services that nature provides are diminishing as we degrade it. Deforestation, pollution, reducing biodiversity, and climate change are all taking a heavy toll on the natural environment. Urban development, fossil fuel extraction, clearing forests, decimating wildlife populations, and polluting the air and water are all in the name of growing the global economy and center around lucrative markets and activities. But at what cost?
A growing number of economists and ecologists are trying to understand the full extent of the effect all of this has on the value of nature. This growing economic discipline is known as "natural capital accounting." Just how much are the natural resources we make use of worth?
Ecosystem accounting has revealed some startling numbers. Pollinators contribute $800 billion in gross economic value annually. A federal report found that birders in the U.S. spent $107 billion in 2022 related to their pursuits, almost six times the total revenue generated by the NFL.
While many people might consider damaging nature to be an acceptable cost of doing business, the truth is that in the big picture, it is costing far more than it is earning. And that isn’t just tree-hugging.
