Measuring Mother Nature
We don’t normally think of mother nature in terms of currency, especially not a hurricane, however, on Thursday, the Biden-Harris Administration released an effort to assess the worth of nature via the National Strategy to Develop Statistics for Environmental-Economic Decisions, announced at the 2023 World Economic Forum. New York Times writer, Lydia DePillis posed the thought, is there economic value in forests, hillsides, even hurricanes?
Up until today many, like myself, viewed hurricanes as cause for turmoil, distress, and economic downturn, (we don’t have to think hard to be reminded of Hurrican Harvey or Superstorm Sandy) but data collection says different. Among several studies, including one done by The Institute for Regional Forecasting (IRF) at the University of Houston’s Bauer College of Business, “The population emerges from shelter to find…several months of retail sales, construction, and recovery-related activities that may run at higher-than-normal levels.” According to Robert W. Gilmer Ph.D, Director for the IRF, “hurricanes tend to leave a distinctive down- and up-pattern in the economic data on employment and income.”
The new strategy, set to be fully operational by 2036, will allow the US to place an actual value on items of nature, things like hurricanes and natural gas, and this measurement will presumably be used to justify government expenditure. Imagine placing a price on the sun, on the rivers that provide fresh water, on the trees in your yard? What’s promising about this news: mother nature is being given a price tag, but exactly how much is she worth, and will it be enough?
