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Date: 2024-06-30 Page is: DBtxt003.php L0900-CS-NC-Natural-Capital-v03
NATURAL CAPITAL
ULTIMATE ESSENTIAL FOUNDATION FOR EVERYTHING
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  • Nature is the foundation for all value add.
  • Land has always been a component of the means of production.
  • Without air and water life itself cannot exist.
  • The ecosystem is amazing, complex and essential.
SUN ... Without the sun, life would not exist. Enough said! The sun is vital! But beyond that, the sun is a huge source of renewable carbon free energy. Fossil fuel has been a concentrated store of solar energy accmulated over millions of years.
LAND ... There is a limited amount of land on the planet. Land is one of the key planetary limits. It is vital that land is used in a sustainable manner rather than being degraded in the interest of unsustainable economic performance.
WATER ... Without water, life as we know it cannot exist. In conventional economics, water is undervalued because for a big part of history it has been abundant and easily accessed. This is changing and water must now be valued more appropriately.
AIR ... Clean air is good for human health as well as fauna and flora. Many steps have been taken to reduce the problem of air pollution that we can see, but not enough for the air pollution like CO2 that we cannot see, yet still dangerous.
RESOURCES ... Natural resources have helped power the industrial revolution and enabled massive improvements in quality of life, but there are limits because of both depletion and degradation of natural capital. Better use of resources is essential.
BIODIVERSITY ... Biodiversity is important. Humankind has emerged over millions of years as a result of massive biodiversity and complex evolution. The future of life depends on the continuing health of the biosphere in all its manifestations.
ECOSYSTEMS ... There is genius in the way ecosystems have evolved over millions of years to stabilize natural systems in a way that has enabled life as we know it. We should be concerned that in the past 200 years this stability is being compromised.
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