Blog Om: Science, Nature and Economy

Nature is the Economy

That’s what I learned last night.

I had the honor to attend the magnificent Royal Gala where Stephen Carpenter received the 2011 Stockholm Water Prize. Dr. Carpenter is Professor of Zoology and Limnology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the United States.  His groundbreaking research combined theoretical models and large-scale research on lakes to show how lake ecosystems are impacted by humans and the surrounding landscape.  He helped us understand how we all affect lakes by the way we farm, fish, and bring in exotic species – and what we should do about it. His findings have led to concrete improvements in managing lakes.

The evening was filled with many delights.  The excitement and grandeur of a Royal event; a highly entertaining, charming Master of Ceremonies; splendid music, including an amazing 15-year old student from Lilla Akademien playing a beautiful piece that sounded like Gershwin and classical music at the same time, and the most evocative folk music as a chorus of women seemed to be standing of the shores of the Bohuslan Coast longing for their men out at sea.  But none of that was the highlight.

The stunning beauty of City Hall, with its Golden Room and Blue Room; such creative, even artistic, Swedish cuisine; the many fascinating people I met – wonderful, but not the highlight. Seeing the humble joy and satisfaction of an American professor and scientist honored for a lifetime of work – that touched my heart, but it was not the highlight.

The highlight started with the buzz at my table among the Stockholm International Water Prize Laureates from the United States, India, Australia and elsewhere talking excitedly about the lively seminar they had  earlier in the day.  They said it was not the usual Power Points, or paper presentations, but a real dialog where people with very, very different views listened to each other, had their views shaped by each other, and reached “convergence.”  Convergence, not consensus, they said.  Convergence around what?  I needed to know. But, I was timid that I might not understand the answer if I asked these chemical engineers, zoologists, ecological scientists, and limnologists what their great minds converged on.  (I had to look up what limnology was – it’s the study of freshwater, like lakes.) 

Fortunately, Dr. Carpenter used  his Tack för Maten (and Tack for the honor of the Award) speech to tell us what they learned in their seminar that day.

I tried to remember each word, but can only offer a poor paraphrase.

Nature is the economy.  And water flows through it all.  Food security, human health, biodiversity, and so many other things that make our planet livable depend on water. Finance, prices, all of that, are only an approximation of what has real value - what we depend on to live. The problem is that pricing is not realistic because it does not reflect the value of things in the real economy – nature.

When I am not acting as Chief or Deputy Chief of the U.S. Embassy, I’m an Economic Officer.  I have learned that economies only work when we get the incentives right, when we reward good behavior and discourage bad behavior.  That’s why President Obama proposed to the G-20 that we eliminate subsidies for fossil fuels. As long as we subsidize green house gas producing energy sources, we will encourage too much production and consumption of those fuels.  The decisions people make when we shop, invest, an go through our daily lives will not reflect the real value, the real cost.  We need to align economic incentives with the real economy – nature.

Thank you to the Stockholm International Water Institute for bringing together such a passionate group of scientists, engineers, government officials, activists, business people, young people and others for the 21st annual World Water Week in Stockholm.  Thank you for giving me such a great lesson.

Laura Kirkconnell, acting Chargé d'Affaires