1. Biodiversity What is it and Why is it Important? Jon D. Erickson University of Vermont Burlington, Vermont, USA

2. Biodiversity What is it and Why is it Important? Jon D. Erickson University of Vermont Burlington, Vermont, USA

3. Allocation of scarce resources toward alternative desirable ends 1. What are the desirable ends? 2. What scarce resources are needed to obtain those ends? 3. What ends get priority? (How do we allocate?)

4. Household Firms (production Factor services Goods I n v e s t m e n t ( 3 ) P e r s o n alcons ump tio n ( 4 ) S a v i n g s ( 3 ) I m p o r t s ( 5 ) E x p o r t s ( 5 ) ( 2 )G o v e r n m e n t S p e n d i n g T a x e s ( 2 ) Government Financial markets Other countries W a g e s, r e n t s, i n t e r e s t, p r o f i t s ( 1 ) What’s Wrong with this Picture?

7. The Epoch of Fossil Fuel Exploitation (after Hubbert, 1969) 0 -5 -4-3 -2 +1 +2+3 +4 +5 Iron in Middle East Stonehenge Built Parthenon completed Pyramids constructed Mayan culture Inquisition Black Death Magellan's Circumnavigation Steam Engine 100 200 300 Trillion kwh per year

8. EMPTY WORLD MODEL

10. K Allocated to Humans the Rest of Nature Time Low entropy matter & energy

11. No Structure = No Function

12. Ecosystem GoodsEcosystem Servicesvs. Knowledge CertaintyRiskUncertaintyIgnorance

13. Allocation of scarce resources toward alternative desirable ends 1. What are the desirable ends? 2. What scarce resources are needed to obtain those ends? 3. What ends get priority? (How do we allocate?)

14. Desirable Ends: 1. Sustainable Scale MB >= MC 2. Just Distribution 3. Efficient Allocation

15. What are the characteristics of resources relevant to the allocation question?  Goods vs. Services (Flows vs. Funds)  Substitutability  Irreversibility  Renewability  Uncertainty  Externality  Rivalness  Excludability

16. ExcludableNon-Excludable Rival Non- Rival MarketGoods Open Access (tragedy of the commons) Tragedy of the Non-commons Pure Public Goods

17. Biodiversity: What is it and Why is it Important?  Structure of the function  Our ultimate means and our ultimate ends  Characteristics that make market allocation problematic, if not impossible  We are ignorant  Steps towards shifting “to a culture of permanence, both for ourselves and for the biosphere that sustains us” – E.O. Wilson