Puddock Hill Journal – Entry #5: A Modern Ethic for Backyard Gardens
Sometimes I think everything you need to know about humanity is contained in the phrase “ecosystem services.”
This is the term of art we humans invented to describe how a given biome—a forest, a wetland, a meadow, etc.—contributes something of benefit to…well, to whom, exactly?
Healthy natural systems exist in a kind of equilibrium, which means the elements of the system help one another thrive. To whose balance sheet does that get posted? Are the arthropods keeping score?
Of course, we usually use the term “ecosystem services” not to describe relationships among other species exactly, but rather to explain how a segment of nature advances our own interests as humans.