Another broad thrust in ecological economics is the argument that operationalizing sustainability demands redirecting economic and environmental policies to ensure a nondepleting stock of natural capital. Environmental valuation has emerged as the primary method of accomplishing such a transition by inserting awareness over ecological entities and services into the calculus（计算） of economic well-being（福利）。 Costanza advocates a ‘biophysical basis for value’ that argues societal values should be based on the degree to which a particular evolutionary product is organized in terms of availability for human use. Carrying this argument to its logical conclusion， one interdisciplinary team of researchers uses valuation techniques to place the total value of the planet‘s ecosystem goods in the neighborhood of US$33 trillion（兆万亿） per year. A similar logic could be applied to the value of ’sustaining services‘ within the overall production process. In addition to environmental valuation， ecological economists offer several related policy recommendations aimed primarily at governmental and multilateral（多边的） development institutions. These include reform of national accounting systems to include natural capital in economic calculations； green taxes on ecologically harmful economic activities linked to lower taxes on labor and income； investment strategies to maintain natural capital at current levels； and endorsement of the ’precautionary principle‘ as central tenet（宗旨）of environmental policy.

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