Would a different term make us better appreciate ecosystem services?

The Chronicle of Higher Education “Who Is Conservation For?”

This article takes an interesting turn when it suggests that our inability to appreciate and value ecosystem services stems from… well, the term “ecosystem services”. It is common to blame scientists for failing to make their fields appropriately accessible to the general public, and sometimes this criticism is justified. But in this case I do not see how one would assess the claim that people would pay better attention to ecosystem services if they had a better name. It seems far more likely to me that people ignore ecosystem services to avoid confronting the profound changes in our economies that would result from acknowledging the value of ecosystem services. Here I have to blame the public for being insufficiently concerned about our own long-term sustainability, as it is hard to say that there have been insufficient warning from scientists about the risks of ignoring the value and stability of ecosystem services.

Otherwise this is a great biographical sketch of Gretchen Daily and her impact on the ecosystem services approach, and an interesting depiction of the rhetorical battle between Kareiva and Soulé.