Quantifying Humanity's Planetary Presence: Valuing the Anthroposphere
Our species has engineered profound changes to Earth's environments, landscapes, and systems. As our collective actions reshape the planet, a crucial question arises—what is the economic value of the human enterprise's planetary-scale presence and impacts?
A new interdisciplinary study provides a pioneering valuation framework that quantifies the worth of the Anthroposphere—defined as the accumulated human-made physical infrastructure, knowledge systems, technologies, and societal institutions.
Developing the Anthroposphere Valuation Model (AVM), researchers compiled extensive global data on urban built environments, transportation networks, intellectual property, education budgets, cultural heritage sites, social services, and more. Employing econometric analysis techniques used in seminal ecosystem service valuations, the study derived a valuation of approximately $200 quadrillion for humanity's tangible and intangible capital.
This umbrella estimate encompasses granular valuations of four key facets:
Component-1: Physical Infrastructure - Including buildings, roads, bridges and utilities infrastructure ($100 quadrillion)
Component-2: Technological Assets - Ranging from intellectual property to software, hardware and equipment ($30 quadrillion)
Component-3: Human Knowledge and Culture - Spanning education, libraries, artifacts, media and institutions ($30 quadrillion)
Component-4: Social Institutions - Encompassing governance, healthcare systems and social services ($50 quadrillion)
By providing an economic mirror into humankind's extensive modifications of the planet, this Anthroposphere valuation compels rethinking development paradigms, incentives, and prosperity metrics to balance growth with ecological regeneration.
While this paper offers an initial snapshot, the Anthroposphere's valuation remains an unfinished narrative. Its essence is clear—our human systems thrive only when anchored in compassion for all beings sharing this home. May quantitative insights seed qualitative shifts toward ethical, regenerative futures.
This novel approach to valuing the Anthroposphere reveals an opportunity to establish reasonable and logical support for providing monetary validation for the Earth Valuation (EV) framework and the Anthroposphere itself. With these foundational spheres and their components spanning into a matrix of measurable taxonomy indexes, it may be possible for the Earth to establish an EarthDollar valuation backed by its spheres. This can support new paradigms of monetary policy and banking systems like EarthBank, leading to a centralized finance network called the Earth Monetary Supply (EMS). All interconnected through the taxonomy of the Toolbox Classification Equation (TCE).
The framework developed allows collaborative refinement and integration into Earth system models guiding equitable policymaking and sustainability. Although interim data limitations exist, the study constitutes a cornerstone methodology for quantifying humanity's planetary presence within an actionable economic context.
The valuation indicates an urgent imperative for conservation and regeneration of ecosystems vital for human prosperity. Our economies need to account for the costs and benefits of anthropogenic changes. The (Ans) equation serves as an essential framework for environmental economists and policymakers creating financial instruments to evaluate sustainable development paths for the future.
This groundbreaking interdisciplinary study ushers in a new era of holistic Earth system modeling and accounting. By quantifying humanity’s accumulated capital, it bridges a critical knowledge gap and establishes a baseline for tracking the Anthroposphere’s worth. The economic scope revealed underscores our collective responsibility for sustainable stewardship of this shared planetary home.
Read more on:
Zenodo
Jeno Joseph Giordano. (2023). Anthroposphere (Ans) Valuation: Integrating Earth's Human-Modified Environments into a Comprehensive Economic EARTH VALUATION (EV) Framework (pv.1.0.0). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10068057
Related Papers:
Jeno Joseph Giordano. (2023). Humans (Hu) Valuation: Valuating Humanity in Earth's Spheres: An Economic Exploration of the 'Hu' Equation from the Earth Valuation Framework (pv.1.0.2). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8430028
Jeno Joseph Giordano. (2023). EarthForce (Ef) Valuation: An Economic Analysis of Earth's Defense Resources, Infrastructure, and Their Pivotal Role in Planetary Stability, Peace, and Unified Earth Responses (pv.1.0.0). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8381680
Jeno Joseph Giordano. (2023). Open Letter to Earth (v.2.0.0). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8342004
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