ECOLOGICAL ECONOMICS PERSPECTIVE ON THE RELATIONSHIP AMONG ECONOMIC SYSTEMS, NATURAL ECOSYSTEMS, AND THE ENVIRONMENT
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FIGURE 2.22 Ecological economics attempts to bridge the traditional approach of conceptually separating economic systems and ecosystems. By quantifying the exchanges of materials and energy between natural and human-dominated systems, ecological economics identifies ecosystem services, such as water purification and climate moderation, to which it assigns monetary value, placing natural ecosystems squarely within the realm of economics.