SYSTEMS VIEW OF NATURE

A WHOLE, COMPOSED OF INTERRELATED SUBPARTS, SUSTAINED BY DYNAMIC PROCESSES

A SYSTEM DEFINED AND SUSTAINED BY A FLOW-THROUGH OF MATTER, ENERGY OR INFORMATION, FROM AND TO ITS ENVIRONMENT

A SYSTEM DEFINED BY CYCLING OF MATTER AND/OR INFORMATION

"A whole cannot be understood without understanding the relations among its parts."

• MATERIALISM: NATURE COMPOSED OF INERT STUFF WITH NO INHERENT DYNAMIC OR INTEGRITY OF ITS OWN

• MECHANISM: SUCH STUFF ("ATOMS") IS PUSHED AROUND LAWFULLY, OBEYING ONLY EXTERNAL FORCES

• REDUCTIONISM: NATURE CAN BE UNDERSTOOD BY DECOMPOSING IT INTO ITS SIMPLEST PARTS

• FRAGMENTATION OF KNOWLEDGE: KNOWLEDGE IS ORGANIZED ACCORDING TO SPECIALTIES

• PREDICTION & CONTROL: BY MAKING AND TESTING SIMPLIFIED CONCEPTUAL MODELS, WE CAN SPECIFY TELL WHICH FACTORS TO MANIPULATE TO GET DESIRED RESULTS

• DUALISM: THINGS IN NATURE ARE HIGHER AND LOWER; MAN IS HIGHER THAN OTHER THINGS, JUSTIFYING CONTROLLING THEM FOR HIS BENEFIT

ENERGY & ENTROPY:

LIFE ON A SOLAR DIET,

OR

BASIC PHYSICAL LAWS LIFE MUST OBEY

•BIO-GEO-CHEMICAL CYCLES

•ENERGY IS NEITHER CREATED NOR DESTROYED WHEN IT IS TRANSFORMED FROM ONE FORM TO ANOTHER

•CONCENTRATED, LOW-ENTROPY FORMS OF ENERGY ARE VALUABLE BECAUSE THEY CAN BE USED TO DO WORK

• AT ANY TRANSFORMATION, SOME ENERGY IS LOST AS HEAT AND CANNOT BE USED DO MORE WORK

• ENTROPY (DISORDER) TENDS TO INCREASE

NATURAL CAPITAL /

ECOLOGICAL SERVICES /

LIFE-SUPPORT SYSTEMS

• "Nonrenewable" resources:

• "Renewable" resources:

SUSTAINABILITY: Using what can be removed, transformed and returned from natural systems on an on-going basis, staying within the regenerative capacity of the system, rather than consuming the resource base itself.