ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at some of those ecosystem services to refresh our memories as to how important they really are and how strongly they influence our day-to-day lives. R. Costanza and a historic consortium of ecological and economic experts undertook the task of calculating a monetary value for the world’s ecosystem services — an undertaking of no small effort or importance. Municipal planners also may find the categories of biomes to which Costanza et al. have assigned values too generalized for practical application at the site plan level. The breakdown of social structure, the destruction of ecological infrastructure, and the depletion of our natural resources are considered an economic gain. Crime has added billions to the gross domestic product due to the need to buy more security measures, increase police on the street, repair property damages, and spend money on the care of crime victims.
