Natural Capital

Development and natural resource extraction go hand in hand.  Historically, the capitalist system failed to assign value to our formally abundant natural resources, an oversight that brought conservation reluctantly into the mainstream. Participatory democracy and progressive policies supporting conservation led to national regulations.  California was an early adopter in the environmental movement and the testing ground for energy efficiency pioneers to begin the process of de-linking economic growth to energy consumption. Conservation was worked into our capitalist system along with the mindset that building green can enhance our environment without degrading the natural one; a value that explicitly preserves American society.