There is a growing movement to assess the value–in dollar terms–of “ecosystem services” such as storm protection (from salt marshes), pollination of crops (from bee colonies and insects), natural predation of harmful insects and parasites (by birds, bats and other animals), fertilizer from animal feces, fish in the oceans, clean water and air, and cooling/greenhouse gas-controlling forests, etc.

This movement has been gaining steam–especially with the recent loss of 40% of U.S. bee colonies by a mysterious virus (causing billions of dollars in lost crops), and the devastation wrought by hurricane Katrina (largely due to the human destruction of natural buffers like salt marshes and sand bars).

Earlier this year, in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, Peter Kareiva et al, published a call for renewed efforts to put a dollar figure on the value of nature’s services. Putting a price on such services (defined as any function of the natural world that we benefit from) is extremely tricky and difficult, but not putting any price at all on these services, in the view of the authors, seems a serious mistake.

Kareiva, chief scientist at The Nature Conservancy, elaborated on this idea: “In this world, cost benefit analysis and dollars are how decisions get made…When nature and the benefits that nature [provides] are not converted to dollars then it can’t be on the table for those discussions and, in a way, nature’s not getting credit for what it’s doing.” (quoted from a February, 5, 2009 podcast report by David Biello for Scientific American)

The time has come to credit Nature for what it does for us. Not to do so, the authors argue, is to devalue Nature, and thus to encourage our collective ignorance and misuse/abuse of its services.

photo credit: Jon Sullivan, public domain

TerraChoice Environmental Marketing released its report The Seven Sins of Greenwashing today. The report defines greenwashing as “the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service.”

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“Connecting with nature calms and soothes both children and adults, and it is something that both children and adults can do for a wealth of benefits, for free”, says REAL School Gardens.

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CSR - HR = PR

(Corporate Social Responsibility - Human Resources = Public Relations)

I came across this “equation” yesterday while researching best green HR practices. It is a quote by Adine Mees and Jamie Bunham of Canadian Business for Social Responsibility from DRIVING SUCCESS: Human resources and sustainable development. They then followed with this:

If employees are not engaged, Corporate Social Responsibility becomes an exercise in public relations. The credibility of an organization will become damaged when it becomes evident that a company is not ‘walking the talk’.

Although some say that the verdict is still out when it comes to green initiatives for employees, I say not. Some studies say that while nice, offering green initiatives doesn’t actually affect employment decisions or employee satisfaction, the two metrics that actually mean something. However, when looking at the trend data, Green employee programs seem to make a lot of sense. Trend watcher Reinier Evers says that the rising importance of salient perks and benefits, which he calls “perkonomics“ is a development that should not be ignored. Studies show that female and younger employees increasingly want green HR initiatives. In another, 79% of Gen Y workers report that they would be more likely to accept a job offer at a green company than another company when evaluating two similar job offers. Another study found that 69% of Gen Y workers want their company to be more environmentally friendly. Working women (63%) feel the same way, compared to only 54% of men and 52% of Boomers.

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