Saving Nature's Essential Wealth

"We are hurtling towards irreversible environmental tipping points that, once passed, would reduce the ability of ecosystems to provide essential goods and services to humankind," said Dr. Zakri, who co-chaired 2005's landmark Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, in Science Daily.

The story was titled Even Farm Animal Diversity Is Declining as Accelerating Species Loss Threatens Humanity.

"We need to urge more economists to do the hard but valuable work of pricing the seemingly priceless," he concluded.

“Right now, the way a forest is worth money is by cutting it down,” Adam Davis said.  Davis is a partner in Ecosystem Investment Partners. “We measure that value in board-feet of lumber or tons of pulp sold to a paper mill,” according to the New York Times.

"What has been missing is a countervailing economic force that measures the value of leaving a forest or other ecosystem intact," he said.  

Putting a value on what is at stake -- the priceless -- could move policy if not people.  Especially as the numbers are big.

"In the case of the oceans, a conservative estimate of the cost of climate change is that by the year 2100 it will amount to nearly $2 trillion annually in 2010 dollars," according to the Economist.

That's trillion with T.  Even the most jaded denier or resource squanderer can hear that.