Earth Economics

Filing Period

Jan 1, 2011 to Dec 31, 2011

Signed

Sep 27, 2012

Return Version

2011v1.2

Gross Receipts

$710,740

Mission

Major Activities

Activity 2

Other Domestic - 21st Century Utility, Flood Policy, Outreach - Participated in, presented at, or hosted over 65 outreach events, including workshops, keynote presentations, conferences and webinars. Events were located in WA, LA, IL, KY, AK, DC, MT, the Netherlands, Mexico, and Bhutan. Presented to a range of audiences including federal and state agencies, oversight (e.g. accounting) organizations, citizens, tribes, decision-makers, NGOs, private companies, and academic institutions. Notable events included keynotes at the international Ecosystem Services Partnership conference in the Netherlands, an EPA-hosted webinar to hundreds of people, a workshop with the government of Bhutan, a keynote at the national conference of the Association of State Floodplain Managers and an invited presentation to the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators.- Published the book What's the Economy for, Anyway? (WTEFA) co-authored by Earth Economics Executive Director Dave Batker. The book achieved critical acclaim, including excellent reviews in the New York Journal of Books, Publisher's Weekly and the Boston Globe. The film version of WTEFA, released in 2009, continued to reach hundreds of additional viewers on YouTube and copies of the DVD were provided to over 100 additional educational institutions. A dedicated webpage was set up to further promote the book and film, with the help of more than $3,000 in volunteer time.- Secured approval of the Earth Economics ecosystem service valuation methodology for use by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Earth Economics was tasked to provide environmental benefit values for the FEMA benefit-cost tool, scheduled for release in January 2013. This tool will make FEMA the first federal agency to adopt ecosystem service values in their benefit-cost assessments, for fires, floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes and other disasters. This improves FEMA mitigation investments and helps avoid repetitive flooding which has damaged individuals, firms and the financial viability of FEMA. The recognition of environmental benefits helps shifts billions of dollars towards more sustainable and economically productive disaster relief investments, improving human safety by helping to move houses out of flood-prone floodplain areas. Earth Economics also contributed to improving FEMA's Community Ratings System, to advance smarter floodplain policy.

Activity 3

Ecosystem Service Valuation On-line Toolkit - Gathered specifications for, and advanced the development of SERVES (Simple, Effective Resource for Valuing Ecosystem Services). SERVES, created by Earth Economics, is a web-based application to help private and public land managers, analysts, and consultants value ecosystem services. This valuation tool provides concrete dollar values for the benefit of nature that can be plugged into cost-benefit analysis, environmental impact assessments, rates of return on investment and other economic analysis to improve decisions about land, resources and people. SERVES outreach began in 2012 at conferences and meetings. Collaboration with agencies, NGOs and other partners expanded.

Filer

EIN

20-1843411