text: Green economists and economics Green economics is loosely defined as any theory of economics by which an economy is considered to be component of the ecosystem in which it resides (after Lynn Margulis).  A holistic approach to the subject is typical, such that economic ideas are commingled with any number of other subjects, depending on the particular theorist.  Proponents of feminism, postmodernism, the environmental movement, peace movement, Green politics, green anarchism and anti-globalization movement have used the term to describe very different ideas, all external to mainstream economics.
  According to Büscher, the increasing liberalisation of politics since the 1990s has meant that biodiversity must 'legitimise itself' in economic terms. Many non-governmental organisations, governments, banks, companies and so forth have started to claim the right to Define and defend biodiversity and in a distinctly neoliberal manner that subjects the concept's social, political, and ecological dimensions to their value as determined by capitalist markets.
  Some economists view green economics as a branch or subfield of more established schools.  For instance, it can be regarded as classical economics where the traditional land is generalized to natural capital and has some attributes in common with labor and physical capital (since natural capital assets like rivers directly substitute for human-made ones such as canals). Or, it can be viewed as Marxist economics with nature represented as a form of Lumpenproletariat, an exploited base of non-human workers providing surplus value to the human economy, or as a branch of neoclassical economics in which the price of life for developing vs. developed nations is held steady at a ratio reflecting a balance of power and that of non-human life is very low.