Man and the Biosphere
It is my contention that MAN has contributed absolutely nothing to the Biosphere.
I agree with the following definition:
The biosphere is that part of a planet's outer shell — including air, land, surface rocks and water — within which life occurs, and which biotic processes in turn alter or transform. From the broadest geophysiological point of view, the biosphere is the global ecological system integrating all living beings and their relationships, including their interaction with the elements of the lithosphere (rocks), hydrosphere (water), and atmosphere (air). Our planet Earth is the only place where life is known to exist. This biosphere is generally thought to have evolved, beginning through a process of biogenesis or biopoesis, at least some 3.5 billion years ago.
That being said, it seems to me that all these prizes and medals given to MAN for the inventions that “help” mankind are really attempts at repairing all the things that MAN has destroyed. The fact that MAN has not contributed to the Biosphere goes even one step further, in my mind, that MAN is not really even a natural part of the Biosphere since MAN does not live in balance with the rest of the Biosphere. That is to say that the Laws of the Biosphere are that as an inhabitant of the Biosphere one does not add or take away from the so called, “Balance of Nature”.
If we were to assume that MAN is a natural part of the Biosphere then there is nothing that man does that can be considered to be “bad” for the Biosphere since if MAN belongs in the Biosphere MAN can do nothing to destroy it so the concepts of Pollution don’t apply. However, if one follows the concepts of the “The Tragedy of the Commons” by Garrett Hardin (1968) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commons) then one realizes that some restrictions have to be put on MAN.
So where does MAN come from? What is the role of MAN in the Biosphere? If we are to believe the Darwinian concept of MAN evolving then we have to address the paradox of where and when did the course of nature change to introduce into the mix an entity that destroys it’s own environment?
Based on my limited knowledge of the American Indian, a so-called Primitive People, they lived off the land and were very much a part of the land, or the Biosphere. They didn’t think of land ownership, nor did they kill animals for sport and they worshipped the elements of the Biosphere that allowed them to survive. They were nomadic, in many cases, and followed their food and clothing sources without leaving a path of destruction in their wake. There were territorial disputes but the main concern was survival and not acquisition of property. It wasn’t until the “White Man” came to these shores that the Indians were introduced to ownership of property.
Maybe the search for my answer ought to come from the ownership of land. Somewhere in the history of MAN there was a transition from being land “stewards” to land owners.
Stewardship-: the conducting, supervising, or managing of something; especially: the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care
The other consideration seems to be the need for shelter and the concept of staying put somewhere rather than moving with the seasons to avoid the need for better shelter.
For example, the logging industry was a direct result of the need to clear land for farming so the concept of keeping the logging industry from clear-cutting land now flies in the face of the logic that created the industry. Re-planting is another concept that is foreign to the use of “natural resources” as necessary.
I sure don’t have all the answers but I am not sure that the answers don’t include one or two of the following.
One, the Religious Creationists might be right. God created MAN in his own image and stuck MAN on the “Third Rock from the Sun” as an experiment. Having already experimented with other forms of life that didn’t make it, God introduced an element to mess with the ”Balance of Nature”.
Or Two, MAN arrived on the Earth from another planet that MAN had already destroyed with the destruction of the environment on that other planet.
Think about it!!!
I agree with the following definition:
The biosphere is that part of a planet's outer shell — including air, land, surface rocks and water — within which life occurs, and which biotic processes in turn alter or transform. From the broadest geophysiological point of view, the biosphere is the global ecological system integrating all living beings and their relationships, including their interaction with the elements of the lithosphere (rocks), hydrosphere (water), and atmosphere (air). Our planet Earth is the only place where life is known to exist. This biosphere is generally thought to have evolved, beginning through a process of biogenesis or biopoesis, at least some 3.5 billion years ago.
That being said, it seems to me that all these prizes and medals given to MAN for the inventions that “help” mankind are really attempts at repairing all the things that MAN has destroyed. The fact that MAN has not contributed to the Biosphere goes even one step further, in my mind, that MAN is not really even a natural part of the Biosphere since MAN does not live in balance with the rest of the Biosphere. That is to say that the Laws of the Biosphere are that as an inhabitant of the Biosphere one does not add or take away from the so called, “Balance of Nature”.
If we were to assume that MAN is a natural part of the Biosphere then there is nothing that man does that can be considered to be “bad” for the Biosphere since if MAN belongs in the Biosphere MAN can do nothing to destroy it so the concepts of Pollution don’t apply. However, if one follows the concepts of the “The Tragedy of the Commons” by Garrett Hardin (1968) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commons) then one realizes that some restrictions have to be put on MAN.
So where does MAN come from? What is the role of MAN in the Biosphere? If we are to believe the Darwinian concept of MAN evolving then we have to address the paradox of where and when did the course of nature change to introduce into the mix an entity that destroys it’s own environment?
Based on my limited knowledge of the American Indian, a so-called Primitive People, they lived off the land and were very much a part of the land, or the Biosphere. They didn’t think of land ownership, nor did they kill animals for sport and they worshipped the elements of the Biosphere that allowed them to survive. They were nomadic, in many cases, and followed their food and clothing sources without leaving a path of destruction in their wake. There were territorial disputes but the main concern was survival and not acquisition of property. It wasn’t until the “White Man” came to these shores that the Indians were introduced to ownership of property.
Maybe the search for my answer ought to come from the ownership of land. Somewhere in the history of MAN there was a transition from being land “stewards” to land owners.
Stewardship-: the conducting, supervising, or managing of something; especially: the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care
The other consideration seems to be the need for shelter and the concept of staying put somewhere rather than moving with the seasons to avoid the need for better shelter.
For example, the logging industry was a direct result of the need to clear land for farming so the concept of keeping the logging industry from clear-cutting land now flies in the face of the logic that created the industry. Re-planting is another concept that is foreign to the use of “natural resources” as necessary.
I sure don’t have all the answers but I am not sure that the answers don’t include one or two of the following.
One, the Religious Creationists might be right. God created MAN in his own image and stuck MAN on the “Third Rock from the Sun” as an experiment. Having already experimented with other forms of life that didn’t make it, God introduced an element to mess with the ”Balance of Nature”.
Or Two, MAN arrived on the Earth from another planet that MAN had already destroyed with the destruction of the environment on that other planet.
Think about it!!!
posted by Michael at
8:18:00 AM
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