Summary 2

Campbell P, Waldrop M M. Natural Value. Nature [Internet]. 2009 Feb 11 [cited 2009 sept 17];457: 764. Available from: http://www.nature.com.mutex.gmu.edu/nature/journal/v457/n7231/full/457764a.html

The editorial, Natural Value, explores one potential way that we can save natural resources. The article contends that the environment, especially in some situations, is economically advantageous for us to manage and maintain. If we can accurately price the worth of a natural recourse, it would then have added perceived value. Then people would be more apt to preserve those recourses.
There are both positives and challenges inherent in this plan. Many of these resources would, in the long run, save a great deal of money. Maintaining places such as marshes protects areas inland from hurricanes and other water disasters. Jobs would be created for monitoring these natural resources and research into their uses. The big problem with implementing any government plans is that there aren’t enough solid ways to assess the economic value of certain areas. Also it would “make everything more expensive”. The article argues that overall, in the long run, money would be saved as in the example of Hurricane Katrina where wetlands would have buffered much of the damage. Maintaining these natural recourses is much cheaper than paying for the consequences of allowing our natural resources to be destroyed.