ECO-NOMICS TO FIX THE PLANET
Eco-nomics - the valuing of natural capital - has become the new mantra to ward off implosions of severe climate change.
By protecting nature from the rising emissions caused by human populations eco-nomics provides an alternative method for evaluating natural wealth other than gross domestic product (GDP) or gross national product (GNP).
The International Union for Conservation of Nature congress in Barcelona was told that traditional economics did not take into account the value of Earth's natural resources such as mountains and oceans.
The world's financial crisis put the spotlight on modern capitalism's freewheeling counterbalancing along with nature's role in producing food, water, fuels and building materials.
A meltdown of the loaning institutions showed the pitfalls of a system that seeks only economic growth while ignoring wider human wellbeing.
Natural capital is set to dominate the new 21st century eco-nomics, according Achim Steiner who heads the U.N. Environment Program.
Executive director of the Stockholm Environment Institute, Johan Rockstrom said billion dollar bank bailouts might change the mindset of the public but people should also be encouraged to spend on saving the planet.
A report sponsored by the European Commission and Germany in May estimated that humanity was causing $67.35 billion in damage to the planet's land areas every year. Deforestation accounts for about a fifth of all greenhouse gas emissions by mankind.
The World Bank has warned that unchecked global warming could cost 5 to 20 percent of world GDP and could cost more than world wars or the Great Depression.
The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan has shifted from traditional gross national product to a goal of "gross national happiness," which includes respect for nature.
And more than 190 nations are now willing to considering a plan to pay tropical nations billions of dollars a year to leave forests alone to slow deforestation and combat global warming.
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Read all about the Earth Charter for a sustainable planet http://www.earthcharterfoundation.com
The State of the Planet TOXIC WASTE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9HHel9QCIk