Brian D. Fath
Professor, Biology Dept, Towson University, USA
Senior Research Scholar, IIASA, Austria

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http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/science/cool-space-picture-5.jpg



}“Natural principles of chemistry, mechanics and biology are not merely limits.  They’re
invitations to work along with them.”
} Jane Jacobs,  2000, p. 12
} The Nature of Economies

clubofsiena.eco-soft.dk
Club of Siena
SE Jørgensen, BD Fath,
SN Nielsen, FM Pulselli,
DA Fiscus, S Bastianoni

}Material constraints
1)Ecosystems conserve matter and energy – 1st law
2)All processes are dissipative – 2nd law
3)All life uses largely the same biochemical constituents and processes
}Ontological properties
4)An ecosystem uses surplus energy to move further away from thermodynamic equilibrium (physically
driven biological aspect) – centripetality
5)An ecosystem co-evolves by adapting to and modifying its environment (biologically driven
biological aspect)
}Phenomenological properties
6)Ecosystems have diversity of structure and function
7)Ecosystems work together in networks that improve the resource flow utilization
8)Ecosystems are emergent hierarchically
9)Ecosystems have an enormous amount of genetic, biochemical, and process information

1.      Ecosystems conserve matter and energy
This principle allows one to write balance equations, such as:
accumulation = input – output.
http://rankexploits.com/musings/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/TwoBoxModelGeneric1.gif

1.1. There are no trash cans in nature
https://www.msu.edu/course/lbs/144/s03/graphics/ecosystem_carbon_cycle.jpg
Material is reused again and again through functional couplings

2.  All ecosystem processes are dissipative and irreversible
(useful way to express the 2nd Law in ecology). Evolution is a step-wise development that is based
on previous configurations for survival in a changeable and very dynamic world.
http://www.wiley.com/legacy/college/boyer/0470003790/reviews/thermo/heat_tax.gif
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Basic_Open_System_Model.gif
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3. All life uses largely the same biochemical constituents and processes
Many biochemical compounds can be found in all living organisms. They have therefore almost the
same elemental composition derived from about 25 elements.
Yellow Boxes = Top 5 Elements present in the human body
Green Boxes = Second 5 Top Elements present in the human body
Blue Boxes   = Trace elements that are required by the human body
Violet Boxes = Elements that are deleterious to the human body.
http://www.vaughns-1-pagers.com/biology/human-periodic-table.gif

4.   An ecosystem uses surplus energy to move further from thermodynamic equilibrium (physically
driven biological aspect).
Another way of expressing that ecosystems can grow – progressive, directional change
http://www.tomatosphere.org/teacher-resources/teachers-guide/grades-8-10/images/dynamic-equilibrium
1.jpg

5.   An ecosystem co-evolves by adapting to and modifying its environment (biologically driven
biological aspect).


6.  Ecosystems have diversity of structure and function.



7. Ecosystems work together in networks that improve the resource flow utilization
Connectivity is a basic property that, through transactions and relations, binds ecosystem parts
together as an interacting system.

8. Ecosystems are emergent hierarchically
http://bp1.blogger.com/_TGR8TxUfiIw/RmteYLJUuhI/AAAAAAAAAHk/nUKxEYaRCs0/s400/Picture1.jpg
Ecosphere
Ecosystems
Communities
Populations
Organisms
Organ systems
Organs
Tissue
Cells
Molecules
Atoms

9.   Ecosystems have an enormous amount of genetic, biochemical, and process information



}Have to respect that mass and energy are conserved
}Have only irreversible processes, where work energy is lost as heat energy that cannot do further
work
}Are open and need an input of work energy for maintenance
}Are organized hierarchically
}Have high diversity
}Have components working in interactive networks
}Have high information level

}Ecosystems recycle most resources; human systems recycle very modestly compared to the overall
potential
}Ecosystems store surplus work energy in biomass and increased organizational complexity. Human
societies do the same to a certain extent, but the primary energy source – fossil fuels – are
non-renewable and create pollution problems
}Ecosystems use growth and development to continue flourishing, while human societies rely largely
on growing through increased input of natural resources, underutilizing networks and information
}Economic rewards are given for either building or exploiting  gradients, without differentiation




POLL=pollution; POPD=population (developing countries); POPI=population (industrial countries);
RESS=resources
2000
2025
2050
2075
2100

}In the developing countries, supporting birth control and increase in GNP per capita
}
}It is also important to raise the education level, particularly for women
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/0015/9576/Innov8aid_400x300.jpg http://blog.corbis.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/42-42663924.jpg

}Invest in pollution abatement through the introduction of a fair accounting framework, such as a
Pigovian tax, based on internalizing the externalities.
}The “invoice” to the polluter should include the costs of all the consequences of pollution,
including the reduction of ecosystem services
http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/sites/horizon2020/files/styles/h2020_large/public/newsro
om/fotolia_42969978_subscription_small_6384_40.jpg?itok=iU1KvyWD

}Creating an economy that minimizes the level of unwanted wastes by coupling flows through
by-product synergies
}An accounting framework that internalizes externalities
}Investment in education, innovation, and research
}Production decreases when resources are unavailable
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/Kalgoorlie_The_Big_Pit_DSC04498.JPG

1)All industrialized countries with a GNP/capita > $20,000/yr pay 0.8% of GNP increasing by 0.04%
per year
2)10% of this support is used for family planning
3)40% of the support is used to improve education in the developing countries; remaining 50% is
negotiated between the donor and the receiving country
4)2.5% of the production value is allocated to pollution control
5)An 8% Pigovian tax encourages resource efficiency
6)Investment, ≥10% of GNP, is made in education, innovation, and research in the industrialized
countries

State variable
unit
Initial value (2000)
2054
2100
production capacity of industrial countries
rel.
340
539
814
production capacity of developing countries
rel.
110
158
659
population of industrial countries
109
1300
1590
1900
population of developing countries
109
4700
6768
3860
Total Pop
109
6000
8358
5760
Agricultural output of industrial countries
rel.
100
121
186
Agricultural output of developing countries
rel.
100
172
252
Pollution emissions
rel.
100
122
104
Resource availability
rel.
20
19.4
18.8
GNP/cap (industrial countries)
$1K/cap
29.5
32.4
44.4
GNP/cap (developing countries)
$1K/cap
2.7
3.2
19.5

1)Use the three R’s (reduce, reuse, and recycle) much more extensively.
2)Use solar radiation, directly or indirectly, as sole energy source.
3)Focus on flourishing rather than growing by changing from quantitative growth that requires
natural resources to qualitative development which uses network organization and information to
remain vigorous and dynamic
4)Changing the objective toward building and maintaining greater work energy capital rather than
exploitation of the gradients for short-term economic return. Economic profit should reflect how
much work energy is built not how much is extracted.

5)Improving integration on and between all hierarchical levels.
6)Appreciating diversity and understanding that it gives society a wider array of resistance and
buffers to changes.
7)Promoting and valuing opportunities to increase information by investing in education, research,
and innovation.
8)Maintain and replenish ecosystem services.
These improvements can be made within the current economic framework through altered pricing and
incentives




}Contrary to the dominant mainstream view, the basis of all current biology and life science
education, it now is becoming clear that life is not only (or even primarily) an organismal
property.
}
}In the view actively emerging, life is not centered on or emanating from organisms, nor is it
primarily a localized, objectified or material phenomenon.
}
}Life is inherently relational, distributed, and non-localized

Life
Environment
Tragedy of the Commons
Humans win, environment degrades
davinci-man-sepia earth 002
Figures by Dan Fiscus
•Inherent in this paradigm, life is separated from environment in mind and action - severs the
unity of life and life support systems
•
•Once fragmented, it is possible and likely that the value of environment is seen and treated as
less than the value of life
•
•Environment is consumed and degraded as manifest in many symptoms of ecological crisis, and the
influence of the citizens’ mental fragmentation and devaluation of environment travels upward to
larger scales and produces the global crisis

1)Life and environment are best understood and modeled as unified as a single “life–environment”
system.
2)A hyperset equation explicitly and formally prohibits fragmentation of life from environment
Fiscus D, Fath BD, Goerner S. 2012. E:CO 14(3), 44–88.
life–environment =
{environment{ecosystems{organisms{environment}}}}
n
Bounty of the Commons
Humans win, environment improves

Input, Output, and System Dynamics
1.
2.
4.
3.

}The business-as-usual approach of chasing perpetual economic growth is failing. It is not
sustainable on our finite planet and it is not solving the problems of unemployment, poverty, and
inequality - in contrast to what economists and politicians claim.
}
}However, actions such as:
•increased investment in education and knowledge creation,
•accounting the contributions of ecosystem services,
•a transition from non-renewable to renewable energy sources,
•focus on development and quality over growth and quantity, and
•building community networks within sustainable places,
}can guide human society closer to ecological balance by learning and adopting how nature
flourishes within the imposed biophysical and thermodynamic constraints.

Read all the details here!
Thank you for your attention!
clubofsiena.eco-soft.dk