On August 1st, 2023, the White House Office of Management and Budget* (OMB) released draft guidance on Assessing Changes in Environmental and Ecosystem Services in Benefit-Cost Analysis for public comment. This is part of a broader strategy to develop natural capital accounting at the federal level. Here is our response.
Earth Economics with the Water Wise Gulf South Collective recently updated The Benefits of Community-Driven Green Infrastructure report, first published in 2021. This includes new community-gathered data from three new Water Wise neighborhoods. The expanded valuation covers aesthetics, avoided emissions, stormwater management, carbon sequestration, flood regulation, habitat, reduced heat, climate stability, and noise reduction benefits.
On June 1st, Ken Cousins (Research Principal at Earth Economics) presented our most recent work on outdoor recreation at the 2023 Annual Conference of the Inland Empire section of the American Planning Association, held in Priest Lake, Idaho. Ken summarized the results of the 2022 study, and described the innovative methods used to develop detailed estimates of visitation to state- managed lands in Washington state from 2019-2021.
Earth Economics’ Executive Director Maya Kocian has been invited by the World Bank to speak at the UN workshop "Making the Economic and Financial Case for Restoration." She will share our experience creating and maintaining the EVToolkit, the world’s largest database of ecosystem service valuation estimates.
In September, Earth Economics was thrilled to launch the inaugural Ingrid Rasch Legacy Fund application. We received a number of compelling applications; among them, PeaceTrees Vietnam’s request for a working map resource to support their demining efforts in central Vietnam. With your support, we aim to raise sufficient funds by December 31st to support this vital technical assistance project.
At the end of 2021, the Earth Economics Board of Directors created the Ingrid Rasch Legacy Fund in honor of our Board Chair of 13 years, Ingrid Rasch. Each year, the Ingrid Rasch Legacy Fund will enable Earth Economics to provide pro bono technical assistance to one non-profit or community-based organization to advance local solutions to environmental injustice, climate hazards, and the threats of displacement. We are thrilled to announce the 2022 recipient of this new award.
We are pleased to introduce our 2022-2023 interns, Kameron Eck and Makaela Whalen. We are already very grateful for their contributions to our work, and look forward to working with them over the coming months!
This summer, we’ve had three ”new” faces join our team. Earth Economics is pleased to introduce Carson Risner and Glen Delaney, and to welcome back Jessica Hanson!
