5 things we should do to save the biosphere

In response to the question posed by Norman Myers to our class last week, here is my list:

1. Education programs that get (primary school) kids outside and into wild nature
2. Set out regulations and standards for sustainable consumerism, and impose labeling requirements on products
   
   • Organic and sustainable harvest, fair trade
   • Wildlife-friendly meats and animal products, and organics standards for meat
   
   

3. Bring ecosystem service valuation into economics and worldwide budgets
   

   • using the Balmford approach (and allocate the $40 bn required to preserve wild nature)
   • calculate GNP using ecosystem services as a component
   • take negative events out of GNP, and figure in human well-being

   
   

4. Create systems to deal with the protection of wild nature, and organize the practical implications of valuing wild nature in the economy
   
   • biodiversity assessment and monitoring
   • land management practice improvement, law enforcement
   
   
5. Fund, promote, require green planning and design of all our systems
   
   • using biomimicry approaches, McDonough “Cradle to Cradle” thinking
   • change the way we actually consume and engineer systems around that
   
   
6. Do your part.

I've included 6 because the last encompasses and underlies all others. It is the paramount point. Please consider your impact, and how you can live lightly on the earth. Feel free to contact me about this or any of these points to discuss further.