About the life supporting mechanisms of our planet

Ecologists are well aware of the critical nature of the services supplied to humanity by natural ecosystems, such as clean air, pure water and lush landscapes upon which humankind depends. The delivery of ecosystem services depends on biodiversity- Earth’s living Wealth, the most important part of humanity’s stock of natural capital. "Not only has most of the terrestrial surface been directly modified by building, paving, plowing, grazing, drilling, mining, clearing, logging, draining, or damming; but all of it has been affected by poisoning. Moreover, human intervention has more or less permanently altered the oceans by depleting fish and whale stocks, destroying coral reefs and coastal marshes, and emiting toxic pollutants. Indeed, every cubic centimeter of the biosphere has been altered by human-induced changes in the climate and the chemical composition of the atmosphere." "Humanity has become a truly global force. Our species is altering the surface and atmosphere or Earth in ways unprecedented since the catastrophe that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. The most irreversible of human assaults on the environment is the one on biodiversity, for once extinct in the wild, populations usually can only be reestablished with great difficulty, and extinct species are gone FOREVER. Humanity depends entirely on ecosystems services and those services depend on biodiversity. Human beings are destroying its own life support systems and catapulting themselves toward ecological disaster."

"Consider what life has done and continues to do for the earth:

Some 4 billion years ago. The primordial atmosphere was a ghastly brew, devoid of oxigen and unable to shield the earth’s surface from the scorching, molecule-cleaving ultraviolet radiation of the young sun. Eventually life changed all that. Over billions of years, photosynthetic organisms in the sea released enough oxygen to create a protective ozone shield and a reservoir of free oxygen that allowed the first plants to venture onto the land. Through the alchemy of enzymes and solar energy, green plants from plankton to redwoods still carry on photosynthesis turning water and carbon dioxide into free oxygen and also the carbon-based sugars needed to build all living tissues. These are the raw materials that underpin the earth’s food webs and generate the food, fiber, timber, and fuel that sustain human societies.

Together, plants, animals, and microbes perform an array of vital services. They generate and preserve fertile soils. They break down organic wastes, from leaf litter to feces and flesh, recycling the mineral nutrients, carbon, and nitrogen needed for new plant growth. They absorb and break down pollutants; help maintain a benign mix of gases in the atmosphere; regulate the amount of solar energy the earth absorbs; moderate regional weather and rainfall; modulate the water cycle, minimizing floods and drought and purifying waters; blunt the impact of the seas that batter the land margins; pollinate crops; and control the vast majority of potential crop pests and carriers of human disease."

"If we are realistic about our dreams for tomorrow, our goal is not really saving the planet in some minimalist form, but perpetuating its atmosphere, climate, landscapes, and living services in a state that allows human civilizations to prosper. For that to occur, we need to preserve natural systems that are rich, healthy, and resilient enough to continue to support human welfare and economic activity."

Writings from the book The Work of Nature. We strongly recommend everyone to buy it and read it all.