Puzzle 01
How to value nature
In today’s economy a tree is only worth money once you cut it down. Living nature is invisible to the market.
Pear orchards, China
Where pollinating insects have vanished, farmers climb into the branches and pollinate every blossom by hand with feather dusters.
Elephant country, Africa
Elephants do engineering work for free. They clear, trample and spread seeds, shaping the land and helping it lock carbon into soil and trees.
Nature’s free services, value per year
$100,000,000,000,000
Pollination, carbon capture, clean water and more. The film puts the bill we never pay at around $100 trillion every year.
The shift
Natural Asset Companies turn living forests, wetlands and reefs into assets with a balance sheet, so a country can grow rich by keeping nature alive instead of extracting it.