Standard economics ignores environmental contribution.

Not quite. More analogous to cocktail party conversations. Basic social interaction, you know you aren't there to discuss heavy duty issues because most others aren't or can't. Sometimes you find a gem in the rough, have a decent conversation with someone, track down some references to check the validity of the ideas of others. But
really, at the end of the day, we all know the difference between conversations on the internet, and those during professional technical meetings or conferences and whatnot.