An economist's 'answer to everything.' Hint: It takes nature

Economist Partha Dasgupta takes issue with our failure to account for the cost of Earth's destruction

Partha Dasgupta is a Cambridge University economist who has criticized politicians and economists for not including the cost of Earth's destruction when tallying things like economic growth.

This engaging video featuring Dasgupta and Danish actor Alexander Skarsgård boils his 600-page treatise down to five minutes.

Stanford University biologist Paul Ehrlich says "watching this is likely your mind's best use of five minutes this week."

The bottom line: We have to start accounting for Nature.

Not doing so, Skarsgård notes in the video, is like using only the goals your team scores to assess a soccer game. You might have an impressive number, but you have no idea if your team is winning or losing.

Worth your time....

www.nytimes.com

An economist's 'answer to everything.' Hint: It takes nature

Economist Partha Dasgupta takes issue with our failure to account for the cost of Earth's destruction

Many people aren’t connecting the dots between climate change and extreme weather

Opinion: Al Gore was right

Global move away from oil could lead to conflict and migration, experts say

One effect of climate change: More rats, ticks, and mosquitoes — and more disease

New York’s subways weren’t built for this

Why it's so hard to predict a tragedy like Nepal's glacier collapse

A mysterious kidney disease has arrived in Texas

Multiple Houston-area oil and gas facilities that have violated pollution laws are seeking permit renewals

One facility has emitted cancer-causing chemicals into waterways at levels up to 520% higher than legal limits.

Pennsylvania health advocates say Trump’s first 100 days in office have caused “100 harms” to local communities

“They're terrorizing these scientists because they want to keep them silent.”

Regulators are underestimating health impacts from air pollution: Study

"The reality is, we are not exposed to one chemical at a time.”

Two years into his term, has Gov. Shapiro kept his promises to regulate Pennsylvania’s fracking industry?

A new report assesses the administration’s progress and makes new recommendations

An open letter from EPA staff to the American public

“We cannot stand by and allow this to happen. We need to hold this administration accountable.”

New evidence links heavy metal pollution with wildfire retardants

“The chemical black box” that blankets wildfire-impacted areas is increasingly under scrutiny.