Chapter 2

Activities

Activity 2.1
A concept or mind map can be used to illustrates relationships between pieces, items or ideas organized around a central theme. You can easily hand draw or use sticky notes to create one or use a software like MindNode or other tool.

Activity 2.2
As an example, wetlands are a natural system that have been evaluated widely in terms of their ecological function, ecosystem services and economic values. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has a useful primer on wetland function and values:

Activity 2.3
To estimate of tree ecosystem services, see the following tree mapper and benefit calculators: National Tree Benefit Calculator
i-Tree planting calculator, New York City Tree Mapper

Sidebars

Sidebar 2.1
The social cost of carbon has been proposed as a way to measure the damages associated with fossil fuel use. The calculation of the metric has undergone significant theoretical development yet in practice, uncertainty and assumptions result in a range of estimates and disagreement about the appropriate one to use for decision making. One such assumption is about the relevant discount rate. The recommended discount rate is based on assumptions about tradeoffs between present and future, as well as individual and societal preferences regarding intergenerational income inequality. In short, economics and policy makers have proposed rates ranging from 1.4% (some have even proposed 0% or negative rates!) to 10% and higher. The result of differences in discount rates and other factors is a wide range of social cost of carbon estimates for official use by the U.S. government: from $1 per ton used by the Trump administration to $51 used by the Biden administration. For more, see “The Social Cost of Carbon” from
CarbonBrief.

Sidebar 2.2
The Space to Grow green schoolyards program is a collaboration between managing partners the Healthy Schools Campaign and Openlands, and capital funding partners Chicago Public Schools, City of Chicago Department of Water Management and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago. For more on the Space to Grow program, priorities and outcomes, visit Space to Grow : Greening Chicago Schoolyards.