Some Fundamental Things

1. Some Fundamental Things These ideas underpin the whole course.

2. Energy: The Key to Life • Energy: is everything. It is the common denominator by which we measure everything in life, and we can reduce every environmental question to an energy equation. Energy cannot be made, and it cannot be destroyed, and all of it comes from the sun—either now or in the past. Unlike plants, we cannot put the sun’s energy to work directly as plants can.

3. The Systems that use energy • Systems channel energy, taking it in one end, transforming it in many ways, and eventually releasing it all, either immediately (exhaling) or eventually (decomposition). Systems will expand in complexity to utilize as much energy as is available, and they do this through diversity up to the point where the energy in and energy out are balanced. Nothing in Nature is cloned, everything has its minor individual variations. Death makes the building blocks of life available to be reassembled into something better adapted to change in the environment, or to exploit an energy advantage over another life form or weaker variants of its own species.

4. Everything is Cycled • Cycles: Everything in Nature is cycled. The basic units are assembled into a complex life form, which then reproduces, ages, dies and decomposes putting the energy back into circulation. Cycles remove impurities, and help the system maintain a state of balance in which it is most effectively able to use and remove the same amount of energy it took in. These cycles have evolved to maintain a balance within a certain time frame. When we disrupt this by adding more input than the system can process we degrade the system and create pollution. We define pollution as something harmful to our life-support system (including the life-forms we eat).

5. Our Perception defines Nature • “Nature” is perceived by us not “as it is” but “as it is useful to us.” So we have a very particular way of looking at the natural process. We cannot change the laws of Nature, but we can abuse them, and sometimes get smarter about turning them to our own advantage, but ultimately, we have to live by them..

6. It all developed together • Nature is one gigantic interlocking system that has all evolved together, and so if we change Nature, i.e. by global atmospheric change, then this will have repercussions through all of life. Humans have the idea of conquering Nature, which is ridiculous. What we do is take more and more of it and turn it to our service almost regardless of the consequences.

7. Nature is not here for us • Nature is not here in any cognitive way “to serve us” and we are but one part of it. There is no special edict that humans will survive and dominate for ever, and it is perfectly feasible for us, like many other species, to become extinct by no longer being in harmony with our life-support system.