Accounting for the Environment

When we buy an apple, t-shirt, or TV, we're used to seeing a price. We see what that item costs us, and make our decision to purchase it given the monetary "sacrifice" required. There are good deals and bad deals, discounts and premiums, but in all cases we are keenly aware of what the item is costing us personally. After all, would you agree to purchase something if you had no idea what the actual cost was?

Humanity has placed values on labor, resources, and skill, but have we accounted for entire ecosystems? If there is no monetary value placed on the filtration ability of a wetlands or oxygen produced by a large forest, we do not see the true cost of products created in conjunction with ecosystem degradation. The human race is producing and purchasing without knowledge of the true cost.

The BBC recently featured a report on Kenya's Mau forest. In the past 15 years, one quarter of the protected forest reserve has been settled and cleared. As a result, rivers flowing from the forest are drying up. Drying rivers have hurt Kenya's harvests, cattle farms, tea industry, lakes, and wildlife tourism. Unlike governments, ecosystems do not know national boundaries. The rivers of the Mau forest feed the Serengeti in Tanzania and Lake Victoria, the source of the Nile. Egypt is being affected by deforestation in Kenya. You can find this article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8057316.stm.

Companies, governments, and individuals alike need to know the true costs of their actions. For this to take place, a value may need to be placed on forests, lakes, rivers, etc. When damage can me monetized, the associated costs cannot be ignored. This may be the only solution for capitalism to co-exist with a healthy environment. In the meantime, it is up to us as individuals to always be conscientious of the "hidden" costs of the food we eat and merchandise we buy.