Rethink the nature of value

We live in a system that confuses price and value. Our economy only knows what has a price. And because nature is invaluable, it does not exist in the indicators that guide public and private decisions to care for it.

GDP grows when we cut down forests, but not when we restore forests. Total pollutants; Taking care of a forest doesn’t count. The market measures demand, not importance.

Oscar Wilde predicted it: “A cynic is the one who knows the price of everything but the value of nothing.”

We live in a cynical society. In the meantime, we maintain the value of gold and cryptocurrencies, which have enormous impact and little social or environmental benefit, leaving unprotected what sustains life. Destruction of the nature to which we belong. Contributing to the market failure that causes it to fail.

Today, essential items have become scarce. We are entering an era of more than two degrees of global warming and water, energy and food shortages.

The environmental risk has already become a financial risk: insurance companies are withdrawing from the areas. And without insurance there is no credit. Without credit there is no investment. Without investment there is no employment and no production.

The most vulnerable are those who lose the most. But the news is that this is no longer a good deal for anyone.

The real question is not whether we can afford to care for nature, but whether we can afford not to.

Profound change requires us to ask ourselves what truly has value.

For example, social cohesion, which sustains us in crises, even if it does not appear in GDP. The healthy economy that equitably meets human needs. Nature, which regulates the climate, provides water, food and protection. Human life that reminds us that we are nature and not something separate from it.

Pope Francis put it clearly: “God always forgives, man sometimes. Nature never.”

It is time to redefine the value of preserving life. We need a new economy that recognizes and rewards what sustains life, not what destroys it. This sees territories as factories for water, fertile soil and climate protection. Let it measure who cares and who benefits. Environmental risk is considered as a central variable and not as a footnote.

This is not an individual task, but a social, political and economic construction.

From an individual perspective it may seem like a very big challenge, but it is within reach. We all have three collective superpowers to change course

Attention: We give value to what we pay attention to. And the whole system revolves around what we value.

What narratives do we nurture as a society? What content do we consume and prioritize?

2. Consumption and savings: Every purchase, every investment and every peso saved finances a model of the world.

Let’s demand transparency: Where does the money managed by banks and funds go? What effects does it have and what risks are my savings exposed to?

3. Vote: We elect those who make decisions about water, air, soil, biodiversity and climate risks.

Environmental policy is no longer a sectoral issue: it is the basis of our security. What position do my candidates have in the face of this existential challenge?

We still have time. Timely to redefine what matters and what we leave behind. Timely to build an economy that honors life, not destroys it. Timely to transform fear into collective action.

Let’s take a breath, look around and ask ourselves honestly: What is the nature of value? And what value does nature have?

Our shared future will depend on this response.

*Teacher Unsam. Former Minister of Climate Change, Sustainable Development and Innovation of the Nation.