The Price of Everything

'Monetising the environment' - putting a money value on all those things around us that we tend to think of as thrown in free with the Life on Earth package - is all the rage just now. Presumably its proponents are working on the principle that money is the only language those who run the show understand, so they will only value the environment if they see £££ signs in front of their eyes. Living (and, come to that, working) where I do, with so many green open spaces close at hand, I reckon I must be coining it... But is this monetisation just a gimmick, a silly exercise, or something worse? What worries me is that as soon as you've put a monetary value on anything you've potentially put a tax value on it too. How long before we'll be paying extra taxes for the 'privilege' of living near a patch of green?