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Need <br />N. <br />BY DONALp <br />Too often in <br />.benefits- ~s if there were <br />E.F. Schumacher wrote:."In the Curren <br />are few words as final and conclusive as the word <br />uneconomic. If an activity has been branded as ' <br />economic, its right to existence. is not merel <br />tinned but energetically denied." In an atte ` <br />recent years to overcome this bias, some hav <br />troduced the concepts of "cost-effectiv_ ' <br />"cost-benefit analysis;' which are sub <br />us to show how valuable, what w <br />ments, are intangibles such as <br />health. But it is a cure worse than <br />cost-effectiveness. has come to mean red <br />is priceless to some azbitrary price. _ <br />Consider one aspect of enviro <br />provides value to everyone in this co <br />es of green and expanses of ecosyste <br />states and communities and the fede <br />as parks. California parks alone rec~i ' ~ 6 <br />million visitors annually who spend nor -" an $1.6 <br />billion and support 62,000 jobs, but'to talk of them <br />in these terms is to reduce them from priceless trea- <br />sures to commodities in the mazketplace. To justify <br />outdoor recreation and conservation, the current <br />economic paradigm demands that we place them <br />within the framework of an economic system that <br />they transcend. We must resist this tendenry. It's time <br />for a different way of looking at parks-fora per- <br />spective that will focus on those values intrinsic to <br />human existence, values that are sufficient unto <br />themselves. Parks are not merely pretty places with <br />fences around them. Parks, as the embodiment of <br />outdoor recreation and conservation, represent <br />economy of a higher scale. <br />This cosmic economy (or, if y` , <br />masher, "meta-economy") res~o , <br />30 • The Amicus Journal <br />world are vital for us because they facilitate the tr. <br />fer of information. Evolutionary biologists are <br />ploring the notion that we are created by' <br />information we absorb. Quantum physicists az <br />proposing that information shapes who we are <br />level of the subatomic particle. This does no <br />merely that we are influenced by informati w~ <br />fed via the media. It means information ' ~o <br />forms: the twinkle of a staz, the feel of <br />past one's, face, tlti~n of being an <br />~M~- <br />50 <br />