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Ecosystem Services 101 with Hank

2010-01-11 · Hank · watch on YouTube · Science & nature · explainer learning

Hank opens a 'teaching' theme week by teaching John about ecosystem services: ecologists and economists put dollar values on what nature does for us (the Catskill watershed, a $33 trillion global estimate), so the environment is good for the economy.

What is said

00:00:00 — Skiing for the views; announcing the teaching theme; Hank's Master of Science vs John's 'froofy' Bachelor of Arts

  • ★★ Hank announces the week's theme, teaching, which he says he wanted to do since before they had themes. — 00:00:00
  • ★ Hank is skiing, but the kind that is mostly looking at stuff, not steep downhill slopes; he is not much for adventure and finds it fun. (playful) — 00:00:00
  • ★★ Hank contrasts his Master of Science with John's 'froofy' Bachelor of Arts: he can teach John scientific explanation, John can teach him that the Gatsby billboard was God or something. (playful) — 00:00:00 · The Great Gatsby
  • ★ Hank says the steep downhill skiing he avoids killed a Kennedy and Sonny Bono in 1997, the year he turned 17. (playful) — 00:00:00
    • number check: 1997 — doubtful

00:00:50 — What ecosystem services are; New York City's Catskill watershed instead of an $8 billion filtration plant

  • ★★★ Hank explains ecosystem services: all life on Earth does useful things for people, such as providing pharmaceuticals, regulating weather, filtering water and cleaning air. — 00:00:50
  • ★★★ Hank says ecologists combined their science with economics to put dollar values on the services ecosystems provide. — 00:01:19
  • ★★★ Hank says when New York City's water became undrinkable, restoring the Catskill watershed matched an $8 billion filtration plant at about a tenth of the cost. — 00:01:19 · New York City
  • ★★ Hank says New York City has some of the best water of any American city, and the Catskill ecosystem keeps up although water use keeps growing quickly. — 00:01:48 · New York City

00:02:18 — The 1997 global valuation (~$33 trillion), topsoil and beauty; the environment is good for the economy; ask for John to teach on Wednesday

  • ★★★ Hank says scientists and economists in 1997 estimated the world's ecosystem services at about 33 trillion dollars, about twice the value of the whole world economy. — 00:02:18
  • ★★ Hank says the creation of topsoil alone is worth about as much as the whole current global economy. — 00:02:47
  • ★ Hank says the valuation included a category for beauty, which he is enjoying today and has spent money on, from his boots to the gas to drive out. (playful) — 00:02:47
  • ★★★ Hank argues that despite the supposed battle between capitalism and the environment, the environment is very good for the economy; destroying ecosystems for gain costs us in the long term. — 00:03:16
  • ★★ Hank says this is one reason ecology is fascinating and important, and everyone should know more about it. — 00:03:16
  • ★★ Hank tells John he expects him to teach Hank something on Wednesday. — 00:03:45

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