Turning Green Green

The "Economist" on how societies could better protect their scenic views and pounding surf by getting them onto the balance sheet:

[Dr Glenn-Marie Lange of the World Bank] wants the value of the environment to be integrated into national and local accounting. She argues that governments should identify the contributions that marine ecosystems make to their countries’ GNPs and foreign-exchange earnings. She also wants them to examine whether or not they are running down their countries’ “natural capital”.