The Four Domains of EcoCommerce

This is a story of capitulation, unlearning, and transcendence. To appreciate the story, one must set aside their presumptions on what an economy is and what it can do. One must capitulate that the economic system has reached its full potential to extract value without further diminishing its capacity to produce more wealth.

Surprisingly, setting aside one’s story to understand another’s story is probably the most courageous and vulnerable act a person can do — even if setting it aside momentarily and within arm’s length. Our egos must be far more fragile than advertised.

This story is not about destroying capitalism, but about widening its scope. It is not about utopianism or altruism. It really is about a capitalism that recognizes the fuller suite of economic and planetary capitals. It is sane. We must unlearn that capitalism is not moneyism, with the goal of converting most everything to money. The wealth of an economy lies in its capacity of its capitals, not in its representative monies.

This EcoCommerce story is about adding “value for existence” to transcend Adam Smith’s “value of use” and “value in exchange”. Overlooked until now, planetary life is what creates “values of use” and “value in exchange” for the economy. Value for existence is humanity’s third pillar of economic value that is needed to stabilize our livelihoods and existence on the planet. It is sane.

To not value planetary life for what it contributes to the economy is no longer sane. This story is about transcending traditional economic models, adding socio-economic values, and redoing the rigid governance structures of exchange. And it can happen alongside, without changing anything about the existing system by adding four interdependent EcoCommerce Domains

The Eco-Unit Domain consists of the myriad and morass of 1000s of sustainability metrics representing nature and billions of dollars of value. Integration of these efforts and values in a coherent domain is critical in moving ecosystem service markets forward in an exponential manner.

The NCU Domain consists of an interoperable geospatial natural capital accounting system for natural assets and ecosystem service flows. The NCU (natural capital unit) integrates the Eco-Unit Domain and is able to account for the entirety of the global natural capital assets and the suite of provisional, regulating, supporting, and cultural ecosystem services.

The Governance Domain is based on a new assessment framework based on four governance actors and three governance style. Its purpose is to shift the market governance from top-down, public and private policymaker perspective to a bottom-up private practitioner perspective. This becomes the basis for a landowner-centric accounting system rather than 1000s of corporate, NGO, and government accounting system that a landowner has to search and navigate.

When you hear the issue of sustainability is an issue of governance, this is, in part, what that refers to. Creating this new governance domain, provides the structure to Uberize ecosystem service markets and enables landowners to control and manage their markets similar to how riders now manage their taxi needs.

The Crypto-tokenomics Domain organizes the Eco-Unit, NCU, and Governance Domains and enables distributed ledger accounting and valuation.

Next EcoCommerce Steps

If you have an interest in creating, investing in, and employing EcoCommerce, Tim Gieseke and Jerry Hatfield have been convening a small group of thoughtful and committed citizens to move this forward. Please connect if you want to be part of it.

Tim Gieseke manages natural capital and is the author of three books that outline the environmental, socio-economics, and governance of instituting a natural capital accounting system and employing EcoCommerce.

Jerry Hatfield is a retired USDA ARS Research Scientist on soil and climate impacts. He was part of the IPCC process that received the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.

Collaborative Environmental Governance Frameworks: A Practical Guide (2019)

Shared Governance for Sustainable Working Landscapes (2016)

EcoCommerce 101: Adding an ecological dimension to the economy (2011)