Baby Services
Benefits from parenting—and nature—go beyond self-interest
I recently spent 12 weeks on paternity leave, enjoying the many benefits that my new daughter provides me—free of charge. As an academic, I might be inclined to call them “baby services.” But I realize that to most people this sounds like an absurd way to describe the joys of parenthood. Then it occurred to me one sleepless night that this is exactly the way that conservationists (including me) have been promoting our work through “ecosystem services.” Just as “baby services” overemphasizes the me-first benefits of children, “ecosystem services,” taken too far, overemphasizes the passive reception of benefits—potentially undermining stewardship tendencies.
Don’t get me wrong: I’m a whole-hearted believer that we will improve decision-making through a better understanding of how ecosystems relate to our wants and needs. And there’s great logic in the notion of ecosystem services. We absolutely need to connect conservation to the things that matter to people—clean water, productive soil, stable climate, and a host of less quantifiable services. Dollar valuation can sometimes play an important role. But it’s unfortunate that “ecosystem services” has become equated with putting a price tag on nature. People care about more than money. People care about caring—for people, homes, and landscapes—even when that caring comes with considerable cost and sacrifice. Parenthood made this easier for me to understand. About having a baby, fellow parents didn’t tell me, “You’ll love all the great things she’ll do for you!” Instead, they said, “It’ll change your life forever, but it’s magical. I never knew I could love anything so deeply and completely.”
Of course I’m not going to promise anyone this kind of love for ecosystems, but I will promise fulfillment, and a sense of belonging, to anyone who strives to build a relationship with nature. People can be receptive to messages that don’t lead with a promise of benefits, but generally this requires a relationship. We can bring out caring tendencies in ourselves and in others if we do more to facilitate a connection to nature—in part by getting people outside and participating in ecosystem care. We can then link caring for local ecosystems to (particular) more distant ecosystems—just as aid organizations so effectively hook people with pictures and stories of (particular) distant children—and from there build support for actions that benefit nature diffusely. Care begets care: I know how much more receptive I am to those messages now that I have two daughters. On the flip side, social psychologists have shown that engaging people’s self-interest serves to suppress their concern for others. So let’s encourage ecosystem care for the fulfillment it provides through relationships—and because it is crucial for humanity.
– Kai M.A. Chan,
Vancouver, British Columbia
