People and communities are recognizing that it is often less expensive to protect the natural systems that provide healthy human habitat than it is to build engineered systems to provide them - if reliable engineered systems are even possible.
EAM believes that quantifying and discovering the monetary value of the important services provided by nature is an important step in protecting the environment. Currently, no one pays for the things that we all use but no one owns - like clean air. Putting a value on clean air - by creating a financial security to represent a defined ‘measured clean air unit’ - encourages those who value clean air to invest. It also encourages those who have dirtied the air to reduce their emissions in order to profit by creating more clean air.
In order to make this possible, EAM is developing methods and software applications to integrate a broad array of information to provide new knowledge about natural systems – for example, the effects of land use changes, like building homes or restoring wetlands, on the environmental qualities we need to live. The result of these methods and using these tools is information for local officials, developers, and conservation organizations to guide their planning and economic policies. It will also allow businesspeople and investment bankers to start trading in these environmental qualities, or assets.
What is significant about EAM's approach is that it takes a whole system view of these natural qualities and how they relate to each other, rather than considering soil, water or air quality individually, each separate from the others. EAM is pioneering new approaches to environmental information and analysis… then using those tools to create and participate in new financial markets.
203 South Main St.
Providence
Rhode Island 02903
401-831-6640