In Chapter 1 of The Restoration Economy, Storm Cunningham discusses the 3 crises: Constraint, Corrosion, and Contamination. And then he discusses 3 myths that, he says, “cloud our perception of the Three Crises.”

Myth #2: The prime economic value of ecosystems is their products

For centuries, our accountants have measured only the timber, fish, nuts, deer, etc., harvested from ecosystems. … The services provided by Earth’s natural ecosystems far exceed the value of their products.

Ecosystem services include air and water purification, genetic resource development/storage, healthful aesthetics, and carbon sequestration (turning atmospheric carbon into oxygen and nongaseous forms of carbon, such as wood, in order to mitigate global climate change). (Chapter 1, p. 25)

And that doesn’t include services such as pollination of crops by bees and other insects and birds.

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