Abstract
Many scholars have advocated that the cornerstone of sound environmental management is an effective control of stability of the human life-support system. A common theme running through these suggestions is that we should maximize the inherent stability of the life-support system. This essay proposes a new scheme or technique of classifying the stability of systems. Then the essay describes how the stabilizing mechanisms may be considered as a force that holds the human life-support system intact. Stabilizing energy is the energy available to do work, without compromising the integrity of the configuration. The anthropogenic processes of harvesting or using the system as a sink for pollutants are the counterforce that tends to destabilize the system. The basic conclusion is that if society is using a system, then the maximum energy of the anthropogenic processes cannot exceed the stabilizing energy. If this occurs, the system reaches its metastate. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.
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