Was Einstein talking about cultural services?

My first blog post over at Montreal's Ecosystems at Your Service!  I'm really pleased to be part of such a cool project, aiming to connect Montrealers with Nature through story-telling.  

My first post is about if we can put monetary values on things like natural beauty, outdoor recreation, and inspiration from Nature (the so-called "cultural services"). Although it's not the focus of my research, I've been thinking more about cultural services after reading papers like Daniel et al. (2011) PNAS.  

An old friend said putting a "dollar value on something does not take into account the "experience" experience of being outside." While I agree with him, I think that measuring cultural services and understanding what we could lose, is a step towards protecting them for future generations.