Green Feet, Ecosystem Services

Currently surrounded by local elections, we try to keep the politics off our page, EXCEPT - to encourage you to VOTE 🤓🧐👍👎🤭🤔🙄☑️

We find ourselves deep in the heart of politics, not by choice, but rather because literally every thing we depend on for life on this planet comes from and/or depends on our ecosystems in some way or another. Federal programs come and go, and the same all the way down to Municipal programs. Our environmental work has MUCH experience caught in both the tsunamis of support - as well as the droughts as political platforms change their tune on sustainability.

Political decisions impact environments in a BIG way, every…single….day. So *VOTING* is an incredibly strong tool for helping environmental sustainability to become a consistent status quo.

Now THAT is something we don’t mind sharing. 🐸🦎

Huge congratulations to the Saugeen Shores Chamber of Commerce for leading the way on green business! 🌿✨

This chamber is now one of the first Chambers in Ontario to officially introduce an "Environmental Sustainability" business category. This may seem small, but it sets a bold, progressive standard for the local economy in the Town of Saugeen Shores: Sustainability is a part of doing business here.

Recognizing businesses that actively protect and restore our environment isn't just good practice; it’s the future of local business.

So proud to see Saugeen Shores taking the lead on this! 🍃💚 Click the link to visit your local businesses and see this small but momentous move!

Business Directory Search - Saugeen Shores Chamber of Commerce, ON The easy way to find businesses and members in the Saugeen Shores Chamber of Commerce

Real change starts with recognizing nature as our most valuable asset. 🌿 Socially, culturally AND economically.

Canada has officially launched its new Expert Taskforce on Natural Capital Accounting and Nature Financing, signaling a major step toward valuing ecosystem services like wetlands, forests, and natural water regulation at the level they deserve. 📉🦋📈

Historically, industry and economic planners spoke one language, while natural ecosystems had no voice - especially on the balance sheet. Natural capital accounting is a step towards changing that.

🌲📊 Because mathematics is a universal language, quantifying ecosystem services allows us to translate the intricate functions of nature—from water filtration in local wetlands to flood mitigation in mature forests and coastal zones—into terms every decision-maker understands. The math doesn't diminish nature’s intrinsic worth. It equips us to prove its irreplaceable value as our communities grow.

At Green Feet Ecosystem Services, this is the exact shift we put into practice every day on the ground in our communities for 15+ years:

📍 Pre-development bio-assessments for developers to baseline ecological health before ground breaks.
📍 Enhanced Environmental Assessments for regulators that go beyond basic compliance to communicate true value of ecosystem functions.
📍 Green Asset Valuation for landowners and project managers to quantify the long-term economic and ecological benefits of things like natural infrastructure, biofiltration, and native ecological design.

Real change happens when ecological stewardship and economic planning speak the same language. They can work together. We’re proud to provide the data, frameworks, and field-level designs to make that happen.

🔗 Read the national taskforce announcement: https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/news/2026/08/canada-launches-new-expert-taskforce-on-natural-capital-accounting-and-nature-financing.html

Canada launches new Expert Taskforce on Natural Capital Accounting and Nature Financing - Canada.ca Today, the Honourable Nathalie Provost, Secretary of State (Nature), and the Honourable Julie Dabrusin, Minister of the Environment, Climate Change and Nature, announced the establishment of the Expert Taskforce on Natural Capital Accounting and Nature Financing.

🤓 Why does Green Feet Love Nerdy reports?
Because math is a universal language that helps humans to better understand what nature is saying and protect her. 🤓➕❤️🟰🛡️🌳

The math used in environmental economics is helping us to make a VERY strong case in protecting landscapes. 🛡️🌲

By translating the soft and often unrecognized voices of nature - maybe a couple of trees in a rainstorm - into numbers (maybe 10 trees and 100L/yr of rainfall), we create values that simply cannot be ignored. That forces us to think differently 💭. Like how that single stand of trees in the rainstorm matches what a $9,500 water storage system can do, AS WELL as replace $600/year in pumping costs to move that water from your house.

🌲🧐 Then we KNOW Cutting those trees down COSTS much more than we have ever thought without those numbers.

Green Feet takes a unique approach for impact studies where we use these numbers to QUANTIFY NO-NET Negative Impact. 🤓🟰🛡️🌳

We embed these numbers and relationships into our studies, like how riparian shorelines offer $2800/acre in filtration, filling bi-laws for control of pollution, and helping landowners and regulators to make better decisions about land use 🏡

See our website to learn more: greenfeetes.com/eis

Did you know every year, humans use more land and water than the Earth can naturally regenerate? This imbalance is called ecological overshoot.

That means:
We’re demanding more food and farmland than ecosystems can sustainably provide
We’re using forests faster than they can recover
We’re relying on water systems that are under growing strain

So where does the Greenbelt fit in?

It helps keep Ontario’s natural systems working by protecting:
Productive farmland
Forests that store carbon
Wetlands and waterways that clean and regulate water

In a world of growing demand, the Greenbelt is part of what helps keep nature and communities in balance. Read the full Biocapacity white paper here: greenbelt.ca/research-report/the-ecological-value-of-ontarios-greenbelt