Ted Weber
Natural capitalism
Conventional economists focus only on a narrow part of our existence (consumption), and ignore other parts of the economy that provide for the sustainable well-being of people, such as social capital and natural capital. Without social capital like education and child rearing, there clearly would be no economy to speak of. Similarly, natural ecosystems provide essential services like recharging water supplies, maintaining water quality, sequestering carbon and regulating our climate, storing and cycling nutrients, conserving and generating soils, pollinating crops and other plants, protecting areas against storm and flood damage, providing fish and wildlife habitat, maintaining a vast genetic library, providing opportunities for recreation and aesthetic appreciation, and many others. In short, protection of natural land is a vital investment, not a luxury. Similarly, negative impacts from economic activity, most notably global warming, can no longer be ignored if our civilization is to survive.
About Ted Weber:
Ted Weber is an Annapolis resident who works as a conservation analyst for The Conservation Fund, performing ecological assessments throughout the eastern U.S.A. Prior to that, he worked as a landscape ecologist for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, and has advised non-governmental conservation organizations in Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, and Botswana.
