Rating: 
Summary: Supporting Player in Reframing Ecology as Economic
Review:
This is a fine book of short stories about success stories where environmental good is achieved while also demonstrating economic benefit in traditional terms. It is less effective at drawing generic lessons (other than "sue them"). I would emphasize, however, that these are important stories and the book renders a valuable service in documenting them for on-going reference, similar in support status to everything written by Lester Brown.
Bottom line: E.O. Wilson's "The Future of Life" is the best of the lot, see my review of that book for the best in class slice. The other book I recommend in support of E.O. Wilson's encompassing and specific work, is that by Brian Czech, on "Shoveling Fuel for a Runaway Train: Errant Economists, Shameful Spenders, and a Plan to Stop Them All."
Rating:
Summary: Supporting Player in Reframing Ecology as Economic
Review:
This is a fine book of short stories about success stories where environmental good is achieved while also demonstrating economic benefit in traditional terms. It is less effective at drawing generic lessons (other than "sue them"). I would emphasize, however, that these are important stories and the book renders a valuable service in documenting them for on-going reference, similar in support status to everything written by Lester Brown.
Bottom line: E.O. Wilson's "The Future of Life" is the best of the lot, see my review of that book for the best in class slice. The other book I recommend in support of E.O. Wilson's encompassing and specific work, is that by Brian Czech, on "Shoveling Fuel for a Runaway Train: Errant Economists, Shameful Spenders, and a Plan to Stop Them All."
Rating: 
Summary: Mixed bag of stories
Review: Authors Gretchen Daily and Katherine Ellison have written an entertaining but ultimately unsatisfying book of case studies that are united around a common theme: namely, real-life projects in which for-profit capitalism and environmentalism may have found common ground. Daily and Ellison acknolwedge the contradiction that such a task entails, but they seem all too eager to discover opportunities where nature can be exploited in new ways to suit capital's ever-changing needs (as if this insight was somehow novel!). In fact the individual case studies represent a mixed bag in that a few appear to offer some hope for the environment while others appear to offer more hope for capital's expansion than for the earth. But even among what I count as the more hopeful stories, precious little of the projects' success could be attributable to capital. Probably the best among them concerned the organic farming movement, which includes related efforts to preserve biodiveristy and substitute natural predatory insects for pesticides. As everyone knows, this is a movement that has been defined by its explicit rejection of standard corporate practices, yet the authors sheepishly do little to point this out. Another excellent chapter focused on the efforts of a dedicated scientist to preserve rainforest in Costa Rica. But while the scientist helped broker a deal from an orange juice manufacturer to dump its waste in the rainforest to promote regrowth in damaged areas, it seemed clear that the Costa Rican government played a much larger role in the cause of preservation that the manufacturer ever did. And of course the watershed protection project for the New York City area was spearheaded by sometimes belligerent public interest groups and the local government over significant opposition from private-property forces. Among the less dubious stories: an Australian who is building Jurassic Park-style nature enclaves in hopes of attracting tourist dollars; an ex-Internet entrepreneur who hopes to cash in big by creating an overnight market for the buying and selling of the carbon-storing capacity of forests; and a political "deal maker" skilled in both obtaining and extracting concessions from developers in the hopes of merely slowing development. The market solutions highlighted in these and other stories point to the self-evident fragility of these projects to sustain themselves in the long run. In an unitentionally humorous part of the book, the authors recount a think-tank exercise in which EVERYONE participating in the pretend game of land stewardship clear-cut their forest assets in the final round of play in order to maximize their returns. My criticism is not that there isn't some merit in what the protagonists of these stories are doing -- they appear to be remarkable individuals who may simply be making the best of their bad situations -- but if the world's future is dependent on the success of these individuals in coming up with market solutions to the world's environmental problems, then may God help us all. In the end, this book fails to make a persuasive argument that capitalism can save the environment. There is some value to the case studies presented by the authors, especially where victories were achieved through democratic actions -- but this latter point was unfortunately down-played through much of the book in favor of the capitalist theme. But I think that contrary to the author's opinion, it seems obvious that the environment will continue to be exploited as long as for-profit capitalism rules the day. Therefore, I think that readers who want real answers to today's burgeoning environmental crisis will not find them in this book.
Rating: 
Summary: A fine collection of engaging stories from around the world
Review: Ecologist Daily and journalist Ellison provide a fine collection of engaging stories from around the world in The New Economy Of Nature, stories that showcase individuals who are developing pioneering new approaches to conservation. The focus here is on how to make conservation profitable - and thus worth promoting economically. These informative and inspiring "read world" examples prove it can be done and tell how.
Rating:
Summary: It's a great start....
Review: I go thru phases where certain topics are of special interest, so when I saw the title of this book it peaked my interest as well as my skepticism. Since Gordon E Moore co-founder and chairman emeritus of Intell had done a positive comment on the book, and it had areas of the world that were of interest I bought it and am glad I did. I liked the piece on Napa California west of us which has for decades suffered when the massive winter rains come thru and I wanted to read of there move toward restricting building on what is known as a flood plain, without hurting the economy. Likewise in Chapter six, page 125 King County Washington and how people from distinctly different business backgrounds, blue colour to white collar corporate (Weyerhaeuser) worked together to protect the Snoqualmie Falls area, which having been there in person, is a majestic place that would have been ruined had big business been allowed to build there. But it is the way the authors have made such an effort to think outside the American box, and have shown success stories from all over the world, where businesses have or are becoming enlightened and are discovering that being environmentally sound means money and success. But as they note on page 232 "There is no single answer to the worlds environmental dilemmas, and the progress to date toward capturing the economic value of environmental services has been so limited as to be almost symbolic. Still, what has happened so far illustrates an approach with great scope for improving the world."
Rating:
Summary: It's a great start....
Review: I go thru phases where certain topics are of special interest, so when I saw the title of this book it peaked my interest as well as my skepticism. Since Gordon E Moore co-founder and chairman emeritus of Intell had done a positive comment on the book, and it had areas of the world that were of interest I bought it and am glad I did. I liked the piece on Napa California west of us which has for decades suffered when the massive winter rains come thru and I wanted to read of there move toward restricting building on what is known as a flood plain, without hurting the economy. Likewise in Chapter six, page 125 King County Washington and how people from distinctly different business backgrounds, blue colour to white collar corporate (Weyerhaeuser) worked together to protect the Snoqualmie Falls area, which having been there in person, is a majestic place that would have been ruined had big business been allowed to build there. But it is the way the authors have made such an effort to think outside the American box, and have shown success stories from all over the world, where businesses have or are becoming enlightened and are discovering that being environmentally sound means money and success. But as they note on page 232 "There is no single answer to the worlds environmental dilemmas, and the progress to date toward capturing the economic value of environmental services has been so limited as to be almost symbolic. Still, what has happened so far illustrates an approach with great scope for improving the world."
Rating:
Summary: The Best New Approach to Conservation
Review: Many of us have long hoped that governments would get on the ball and take the necessary steps to preserve our environment in general and critical ecosystem services in particular (if you're unfamiliar with them, read Daily's wonderful "Nature's Services"). If Shrub's efforts do destroy the environment have not convinced you we can't count on our leaders to end the ecological crisis, nothing will. This superb book tells of those who are taking a different approach -- trying to find ways that markets can be developed that will align economic and conservation goals. Everyone in both the business and environmental communities, as well as those in both, should read this interesting and hopeful book.
Rating:
Summary: Cash and the environment are now the same shade of green
Review: Much of traditional environmental science reading is the harbinger of doom and suffers from one of two typical responses. (1) Reader fatigue from too many unremittingly bleak books or (2) Annoyance with increasingly strident chicken-little's. What a refreshing break it is then to read the optimistic views in THE NEW ECONOMY OF NATURE. And it's not because this book is in denial about the problems that exist. Nor is it deceptively panglossian like that bit of statistical chicanery offered by THE SKEPTICAL ENVIRONMENTALIST. What this book does very well is offer an alternative to the tried, tested, and failed approach of environmental/corporate confrontation. There has long been an awareness of the services that natural systems such as forests, wetlands, streams, tropical reefs, and oceans provide. Water purification, flood control, and climate regulation for instance. This book continues a recent trend in environmental science writing which is now putting a value on such free services. Others go further and quantify, in dollar terms, what the replacement costs for these ecosystems would be. (E. O. Wilson in THE FUTURE OF LIFE for instance). Because the numbers are so mind-boggling and impossible for any government to contemplate, it is a very effective technique for driving home the importance of these extremely valuable and fragile systems. As the authors say "it's time to begin figuring out how to assign economic value to ecosystems and the services they provide, and incorporate those values into public policy." The real value of this book is in the examples it offers. Rather than a discussion of environmental policy, Daily and Ellison focus on real solutions being implemented right now by entrepreneurs, visionary scientists, committed corporations, and active local governments. It's interesting also that most of the answers originated in the human imagination rather than in some new technological advancement. More than anything else this is the source of the authors inspiration. It proves that people are actively re-thinking their approach rather than blithely waiting for a solution from on-high by gadget gurus. In their opening chapter "Katoomba and the Stratosphere" Daily and Ellison talk about the Katoomba Group which represents just the sort of people leading this paradigm shift. Other innovative approaches are found in chapters titled "New York: How to Put a Watershed to Work" and "Costa Rica: Paying Mother Nature to Multitask". In the New York example the shift in thinking was to look at trees as something more valuable than lumber, recognize the contribution of standing forests to water purification and then to preserve them accordingly. City officials realized that it was more cost effective to protect watershed lands than to build a new filtration plant. The books ten chapters each give examples of similar such solutions. Most are within the Americas but "Down Under: How To Make a Numbat Turn a Profit" is a typical tale of outback ingenuity. The authors admit that the movement is not yet widespread and innovative thinking is still not the norm. Nevertheless their enthusiasm and convincing optimism makes the message of their Epilogue: "The Revolution in the Wings" one that is believable and more importantly, something in which we can actively participate.
Rating:
Summary: Essential Edition to the Literature
Review: Paul Ehrlich recommended this title and I found it to be a necessary addition to the current body of literature on the topic. In fact, there is nothing else like this that I have run across. The crux of the book is finding ways to put a price tag on services nature performs for free so we can use the revenue for restoration and preservation of the human habitat. I did give it four stars only because the chapters were unnecessarily detailed in my opinion. Definitely worth a look.
Rating:
Summary: Highly recommended reading for environmental activists
Review: The New Economy Of Nature: The Quest To Make Conservation Profitable by Gretchen C. Daily (Bing Interdisciplinary Research Scientist, Stanford University) and Katherine Ellison (investigative journalist and foreign correspondent, Knight Riddler Newspapers) is a selection of international spotlights on how the legal sanction of fining those who despoil the environment and rewarding those who preserve it makes good sense for both business and conservation. From a New York watershed to Costa Rica and Australia, these true-life anecdotes pave the way for a better world and a better future. The New Economy Of Nature is highly recommended reading for environmental activists, natural resources protection governmental agencies, state and federal lawmakers, as well as practical minded businesspeople and conservationists!
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