Sustainable Biosphere Research Articles

Leveraging Confucian and Daoist Wisdom for Biodiversity Education: A Pathway to Sustainable Decision Making

The vitality of biodiversity, an essential pillar of a thriving biosphere, is currently at risk. This paper investigates the potential of ancient philosophies, specifically Confucianism and Daoism, as pathways to mitigate this issue. We delve into the intricate connections between these philosophies and the natural world, and how they can inform our understanding of biodiversity threats in the context of cultural and technological evolution. Recognizing the inevitable progression of technology and its influence on human evolution and the biosphere, we turn to traditional philosophies to establish guiding principles for sustainable decision-making. We advocate for the principle:" Decisions must not result in the artificial reduction of biodiversity within the framework of evolutionary time." This principle is substantiated by reciprocal arguments that lay the foundation for the essential analyses to protect biodiversity. By adhering to this principle, we can ensure a sustainable biosphere conducive to ongoing human evolution. This study underscores the importance of integrating ancient wisdom with modern decision-making processes to address the pressing issue of biodiversity loss.

MICROBIAL-ASSISTED SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT-A CIRCULAR ECONOMY APPROACH

The soil contains a significant quantity of microbial life, including a vast range of bacteria, archaea, yeast, fungi, algae, and protozoa. They can thrive in harsh environments like hot springs, deep beneath rocks, and in subfreezing temperatures. However, although these biological communities are considered significant in sustaining a sustainable biosphere, roughly about 90 % of microorganisms significance remains unknown. The majority of the microorganisms that are often found in solid waste are bacteria and fungi. These species are collectively referred to as Solid Waste Microflora. They grow using the elements from the waste as their food. Municipal solid waste should be maintained in a satisfactory state before discharge to decrease biological activity, prevent or postpone the release of toxic substances into the environment, and decrease odor generation. Organic waste composting represents a bio-oxidation sequence, encompassing the mineralization and partial transformation of organic substances. This sequence results in an endproduct devoid of pathogens and phytotoxicity, while also inheriting certain humic characteristics. The local microbial population actively mediates the biodegradation and conversion process during composting. Identification of these microorganisms is necessary as they keep the flow of nutrients from one system to another. Composting also aids in waste disposal to a larger level and serves as an organic source of nutrients. To attain the objectives of sustainable waste management, waste generation must be minimized, waste materials must be recovered and recycled, and energy must always be recovered to preserve resources for the future. Recovering energy from abandoned waste has the potential to generate energy for communities, produce energy in industries, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and other toxic air pollutants

Promoting Action Ecology Research Through Integration of Environmental Justice in Undergraduate Ecology Education

Promoting Action Ecology Research Through Integration of Environmental Justice in Undergraduate Ecology Education

Achieving a post-growth green economy

A transformation in human values in a ‘post-materialist’ direction by middle-class youth around the world may be setting the stage for a new reality of near-zero economic growth and a sustainable and healthy global biosphere. Evidence from the World Values Survey suggests that a global expansion of post-material values and experiences leads to (1) a reduction in consumption-oriented activities, (2) a shift to more environmentally friendly forms of life that include living at higher, more energy efficient urban densities, and (3) active political support for environmental improvement. Such behavioral shifts provide a foundation for a turn to a slow-growth or even no-growth economy in comparatively affluent countries to the benefit of a healthier global biosphere. To set the stage for a ‘post-growth green economy’ that features climate stability and a substantially reduced ecological footprint, the timing is right for a ‘Green New Deal’ that focuses on de-carbonizing the global economy and has the side-benefit of fostering an economic recovery from the Covid-19 global recession currently underway. The financing of global decarbonization by the world’s wealthiest countries is affordable and could stimulate much needed economic improvements in developing countries by creating within them modern, efficient clean energy systems that can serve as a basis for increased economic prosperity. Such prosperity will in turn accelerate declines in population fertility and result ultimately in reduced global population growth.

Strategic Planning for Sustainable Biosphere Reserves Management through CBMS Program

Strategic Planning for Sustainable Biosphere Reserves Management through CBMS Program

The Role of University Campuses in Reconnecting Humans to the Biosphere

In this paper, we explore the potential for integrating university campuses in a global sustainability agenda for a closer reconnection of urban residents to the biosphere. This calls for a socio-cultural transition that allows universities and colleges to reconnect to the biosphere and become active stewards of the Earth System. Recognizing their pivotal role of fostering coming generations of humans, university campuses represent a unique socio-cultural setting to promote sustainable development in practice. Among others, this involves the nurturing of biodiversity and ecosystem services in the Antropocene era, which is characterized by ongoing climate change and massive loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services. We explore the traditional campus setting, its role as a community for rejuvenating town planning and its role as a governance authority that may promote or retard sustainable development with an ecological focus. We explore the “sustainable” university and describe the campus as an ecosystem and how a resilient campus can be designed to meet the novel and critical challenges of the Anthropocene. We conclude by providing some policy recommendations for higher educational institutes to speed up their ambitions in the area of sustainable biosphere management.

Resolution of Respect: Paul Risser, 1939–2014

Resolution of Respect: Paul Risser, 1939–2014

A Method of Finding Biologically Inspired Guidelines for Environmentally Benign Design and Manufacturing

Fundamental characteristics identified via observation of the inherently sustainable biosphere can inform and guide environmentally benign design and manufacturing (EBDM). In support of this premise, this paper identifies characteristics, extracts biological principles, translates them into guidelines for EBDM, and briefly reports on their application in situations of engineering interest. It outlines and illustrates the use of constant comparative method (CCM) to identify and extract fundamental biosphere characteristics from biology and ecology literature. Then, it translates these biological principles into general guidelines with associated metrics. To illustrate the efficacy of this approach, bio-inspired metrics are used for the purposes of assessing micro/nanoscale self-cleaning surfaces and designing a carpet tile recycling network. These efforts suggest that learning the phenomena responsible for the biosphere's inherent sustainability can yield insight into EBDM.

Dr. John R. Vallentyne (1926–2007)

Dr. John R. (Jack) Vallentyne, died peacefully at his home in Hamilton on Saturday, June 16th, 2007 of colon cancer. His ashes were scattered in the Laurentian Great Lakes (Lake Superior) which he loved and cared for immensely. Dr. Vallentyne was known globally for his anti-eutrophication and phosphorus abatement campaigns, well documented in his book The Algal Bowl (1974). His campaign resulted in the reduction of phosphorus in laundry detergents, as well as in improvements in municipal wastewater treatment. Furthermore, he had tremendous influence on the revision of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA) by developing and implementing the ‘ecosystem approach’ in the management of the Great Lakes and emphasizing the need to think holistically and globally. He had a distinguished career in the environmental conservation, restoration and management of aquatic resources.Jack was a Ph.D. student of George Evelyn Hutchinson at Yale, author of A treatise on limnology (1957). He served as an Assistant Professor in Biology at Queen's University, a Fellow of the Carnegie Institution of Washington Geophysical Laboratory; and a very young professor of zoology at Cornell University. He taught everything from biogeochemistry to statistical ecology, evolutionary biology, cosmochemistry, origin of life, and even began a revolutionary pub lecture series for grad students. He worked on amino acids in meteorites and moon rocks and Silurian halite crystal liquid inclusions, Pleistocene pigments in sediment cores, and the statistics of roulette and poker games. He also spent a year in Pallanza, Italy at the Instituto Italiano di Idrobiogia with the Tonolli family.Dr. Vallentyne served with the Fisheries Research Board of Canada as the head of the Eutrophication Section at the Freshwater Institute in Winnipeg and was the architect of the world renowned Experimental Lakes Area research program. He helped establish the Board's first biological laboratory on the Great Lakes at the Canada Centre for Inland Waters (CCIW) in Burlington, Ontario. He then recruited Dr. R.A. Vollenweider as head of the laboratory to organize a biological research program. Later Jack served as a senior scientist at Fisheries & Oceans Canada in Burlington until his retirement. He also served as the Canadian Co-chair of the International Joint Commission Science Advisory Board from 1986–1991.During his tenure at CCIW, Dr. Vallentyne actively promoted the “ecosystem approach” to research, environmental conservation and education. These initiatives included a regular seminar series, public outreach and an annual environment week celebration. Jack's passion for drama and theatre were evident in his public awareness programs, which included the popular characters “Professor Trout” and “Johnny Biosphere.” He skilfully used these characters to communicate with the public especially with children and took his message of environmental conservation to elementary schools in southern Ontario and around the globe. His public outreach always focused on limnology, education and a sustainable biosphere. In order to recognize his landmark contributions to world science the Aquatic Ecosystem Health and Management Society (AEHMS) established a “J.R.Vallentyne Lecture Series” in 1997 at its biennial conferences.Up until his death, Jack paid regular visits to CCIW and was busy preparing a presentation for the SIL Congress in Montreal (August, 2007), as well as an updated version of The Algal Bowl: Overfertilization of the world's freshwaters and estuaries, 2nd Ed. (2008) co-authored with David Schindler. Dr. Vallentyne has left a rich legacy with far reaching implications for the improvement of ecosystem and human health. The biosphere will miss “Johnny” greatly.Biography composed and compiled by:Aquatic Ecosystem Health and Management SocietyBurlington, Ontario, Canada

We're All Computational Biologists Now?Next Stop, the Global Brain?

We're All Computational Biologists Now?Next Stop, the Global Brain?

Symposium 10: Planetary Stewardship and the Millennium Assessment of Human Behavior (MAHB)

Symposium 10: Planetary Stewardship and the Millennium Assessment of Human Behavior (MAHB)

International and National Security Includes a Sustainable Biosphere

Most activities that sovereign countries engage in can be considered a form of national security. These activities include agriculture, food safety and security, research, innovation, public health, education, healthcare, transportation, energy grids, communication, civil law, justice systems, military, non-corrupt financial systems, basic human rights and needs, democratic elections, honest visionary leadership and lack of conflicts, as examples. The more democratic countries present in the world, the easier it is for global international security to prevail. National and international security is extremely challenging in the face of global pollution, an overpopulated planet, conflicts, wars, discrimination, super capitalism and consumption, excess waste, dictatorships, failed states, organized crime, thugs and criminals, and in countries lacking basic infrastructure and violating human rights. Good national security equates to good international security. Democratic countries with evolving national security can share their science, technology, and knowledge, provide foreign aid, assist other countries in a time of crisis, engage in regulated and free trade, and have a better opportunity to conduct their activities in a peaceful manner, including international pollution accords with agreements that are legally binding. Of the current about 195 countries in the world, there are many that are still not democratic, are unstable states, or are completely failed states. These countries often do not have the capability to evolve a democracy and/or the dictators running them do not desire a form of democratic national security. This makes it difficult for other countries to engage in meaningful agreements to help the often oppressed citizens of those countries. The lack of national security in these countries also makes it difficult to implement much needed birth control programs and pollution control programs, both needed in our singular, common biosphere. It is the role of every democratic country to assist non-democratic countries in every way possible to evolve into democracies where the rights of the individual are placed ahead of the rights of the state. National security also includes both public and private education where scholarship, debates, innovation, and research are part of the driving force behind greener, sustainable countries and ensuring a sustainable biosphere for humanity. All citizens in all countries need to be partners in humanity. The younger generation in both democratic and nondemocratic countries should choose their idols carefully; if they want a better world, choose (and become knowledgeable about) those individuals and organizations who have devoted their lives to humanity. Think of the great visionary leaders, thinkers and philosophers, and scientists such as Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln, Doctors without Borders, Mother Teresa, Mahatma Ghandi, Desmond Water Air Soil Pollut (2010) 213:1–2 DOI 10.1007/s11270-010-0349-5

Global urbanization: can ecologists identify a sustainable way forward?

The year 2007 was the first year in which more than half of humanity lived in cities. Over the next 25 years, the world will see the addition of nearly one million km2 of urban area, occurring in tens of thousands of cities around the globe. The form these new neighborhoods take will affect our planet's ecology profoundly. Here, I highlight the connection between urban form and ecosystem service generation and consumption. I also discuss how urban form controls energy use, and hence oil security and climate change. I argue that only by directly addressing the implications of urban growth as a research subject will ecologists meet their responsibility to provide a foundation for a sustainable biosphere, a mandate of the Ecological Society of America.

A vision for ecology's future: where are we today?

Two years ago, the Ecological Society of America's (ESA) EcoVisions Project (Palmer et al. 2004, Science 304: 1251–52) set forth an ambitious agenda for ecology that built upon the nearly 15-year tradition of the Sustainable Biosphere Initiative (SBI). The ESA Board then considered the EcoVisions recommendations in the context of ESA's Strategic Plan, and selected four for immediate action: (1) establish Rapid Response Teams (RRTs), composed of ESA members, to interact with Congress on ecological issues ranging from climate change to invasive species; (2) explore ways to effectively communicate our science and its implications for sustainability to a large audience; (3) increase the Society's efforts in education, especially for under-represented groups; and (4) promote international activities across the Americas and beyond. In the fall of 2004, eleven RRTs were established. These teams have already provided timely scientific advice to Congress about the Endangered Species Act, Hurricane Katrina, and the ecosystem services provided by wetlands (see http://esa.org/experts). In an effort to reach policy makers outside of Washington, DC, the ESA is also developing plans to add a regional component to informing policy with ecological knowledge. This effort is motivated by the observation that local-to-regional decision making often has a greater impact on critical environmental issues than does national policy. Two study committees are working to shape this initiative; one takes a broad view on regional issues across the nation, while the other will be involved in rebuilding Gulf Coast landscapes. The ESA continues to expand its commitment to ecological educational programs. Teaching Issues and Experiments in Ecology, the society's web-based undergraduate education tool, and EcoEdNet, a digital library of ecological education resources, have both been greatly expanded. Our efforts to educate young scholars from under-represented groups continue to grow through the Strategies for Ecology Education, Development, and Sustainability (SEEDS) program. About 25 SEEDS students participate in semi-annual field trips; in early March, 12 current and former fellows, together with six faculty members and staff, attended a leadership workshop in Phoenix, AZ, and 16 students traveled to Mérida, Mexico, for the ESA's meeting, “Ecology in an Era of Globalization”. An international extension to the SEEDS program is also in the planning stages. The ESA is partnering with ecologists from other countries to build a forward-looking, international science. Our colleagues from the Federation of the Ecological Societies of the Americas were active participants in the Mérida meeting. On behalf of the Federation, the ESA has translated six Issues in Ecology into Spanish. The relationship between ESA and the Ecological Society of China has recently been strengthened by our support of two international conferences on sustainability, both held in China. In the fall of 2005, ESA signed an agreement with the Chinese Government, to make its publications available online to 401 institutions across China. In order to launch and carry out all of these new initiatives, the ESA Governing Board approved the hiring of a development specialist to assist in raising the necessary funds. As a result, Director of Development Fran Day began work in February and looks forward to your help in building ESA's programs. Since the 1991 publication of the SBI, the ESA has promoted activities that build capacity for research and education in support of sustainability goals. The EcoVisions Report called for a continuation of capacity building in a number of ways, including designing, building, and using new instrumentation; fostering data sharing; and promoting interdisciplinary research. Now, the Society is turning its attention to these challenges. For example, ESA leadership recently approved a data registry for studies published in its journals, and is working to promote the goal of free and open data access for all environmental sciences. In addition, ESA staff and membership have actively participated in development of the National Ecological Observatory Network and parallel, community-based plans for ecological research integrated with social science (led by the Long-Term Ecological Research [LTER] network). Finally, building community is perhaps the most fundamental – and challenging – issue that we need to confront. A coherent ecological research and education community is one that builds upon excellent individual and collaborative science, as well as having a unique and recognizable set of scientific goals, a clear identity with respect to the larger scientific world, and a contribution to make to society. Working as a group, ecologists have already seen success in creating the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis and the LTER program. These are examples of how a community can conceive, design, and support projects that go beyond what can be accomplished by individuals or smaller groups. Yet much remains to be done. With the help of an active and involved membership, the ESA leadership stands ready to foster a more integrated and effective community for ecological science. Nancy Grimm, ESA President Alan Covich, ESA President Elect Jerry Melillo, ESA Past President

Ecology and the transition to sustainability

Ecological knowledge is essential for a successful transition to sustainability – a transition to a world in which hunger and poverty are reduced, while the Earth's life support system, thebiosphere, is conserved. The Ecological Society of America (ESA) has been working working to promote a change to sustainability for over a decade. In 1991, the Society launched its Sustainable Biosphere Initiative (SBI), which has had many successes. The initiative stimulated new ecological research and advanced ecological knowledge in the service of society. In addition, it has fostered communication of that knowledge to our nation's leaders, to help them make informed decisions about the complex challenges of protecting and improving the environment while maintaining economic prosperity. Despite more than a decade of effort, our work on the move to sustainability is in its early stages. This task is complicated by the fact that we are seeking sustainability in a changing world that is putting ever more pressure on the biosphere. Since the initiation of the SBI, the human population has grown beyond 6 billion. Across the globe, people are abandoning rural areas for cities; these human-designed environments, when poorly conceived, degrade the ecosystems that supply essential services such as cleansing of air and water and stabilizing landscapes against erosion by wind and water. Essential ecosystem services are also being compromised by the introduction of alien species of plants and animals into ecosystems, either purposefully or inadvertently. Regional air and water pollution have become the unwanted companions of economic growth in much of the developing world, and this pollution is taking a toll on human health as well as reducing yields of the food and fiber that are so desperately needed by a growing world population. Greenhouse gases from fossil fuel burning and deforestation continue to accumulate in the atmosphere and are causing climate change. Overfishing, especially of the high tropic levels, is impoverishing the world's oceans. The list goes on. As the threats to the world's transition to sustainability continue to mount, ESA has taken a fresh look at this critical issue and the future of ecological science in general. In 2002, the Society's Governing Board charged a committee to prepare an action plan that would accelerate our progress in addressing the major environmental issues of the new century. Over a 2-year period, what has come to be known as the “Visions Committee” consulted our membership as well as many organizations and individuals outside ESA. They articulated their core position as follows: “Ecological knowledge can and must play a central role in helping achieve a world in which human populations exist with sustainable ecological systems.” The action plan focuses on three areas: building an informed public, advancing innovative, anticipatory research, and stimulating cultural changes that foster a forward-looking and international ecology. The Visions Committee has proposed 26 specific actions, designed to cover these focus areas. Some require modest investments of time and money, while others require major commitments of resources. An example of the latter is the call for a major information campaign to bring issues of ecological sustainability before the general public. The Governing Board of the Society is working to prioritize the list of actions and to move forward rapidly. On behalf of the Society's membership, we thank the Visions Committee for a job well done. This issue of Frontiers begins with an overview paper by the Visions Committee that summarizes its recommended actions. The remaining papers address some of the main ecological issues that must be dealt with if society is to make progress towards a more sustainable future. Jerry M Melillo (President) Nancy B Grimm (President-elect) William H Schlesinger (Past President)

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Why Regional Coastal Monitoring for Assessment of Ecosystem Health?

ABSTRACT During recent years, the public and the scientific communities have signaled concern over growing degradation of ecosystem health, depleted fisheries, pollution, and habitat loss. Public concern has been registered in newspapers, electronic media, and congressional actions. Scientific concern has moved from the pages of journals to the actions of professional societies, as for example the Sustainable Biosphere Initiative of the Ecological Society of America (Lubchenco et al. 1991). Responsive actions at the national and international levels have resulted in Conventions and Protocols on Climate Change, Biodiversity, Ozone, and internationally recognized declarations for sustaining marine fisheries.

Tinker, tailor, scientist, advocate!

A new initiative by the Ecological Society of America (ESA), the Aldo Leopold Leadership Program, is designed to train environmental scientists to be effective communicators of their research in the public and political arena. Each cohort of 20 Aldo Leopold leadership fellows meets twice in their first year. Over the next five years, the program is designed to train an initial group of 60 ecologists, and environmental and conservation biologists. The roots of the program go back to the ESAs Sustainable Biosphere Initiative (SBI)4xThe sustainable biosphere initiative (an ecological research agenda) . Lubchenco, J. et al. Ecology. 1991; 72: 371–412CrossrefSee all References4. During the development of the SBI, Jane Lubchenco (Oregon State University, Corvallis, USA) and Hal Mooney (Stanford University, CA, USA) realized there was a major need to train ecologists in the skills they would need to communicate with the press, their local and national politicians, and above all the public.A primary goal of the Aldo Leopold Leadership Program is to expand the communication skills of its fellows and raise the intellectual standard of the public dialogue on the environment. The fellows will be taught how to work with politicians, industrialists and the media, to develop environmental policies that are good for both the environment and long-term economic health.The Aldo Leopold Leadership Program was initiated by a ‘Pew Conservation Scholars Award’ to Jane Lubchenco. The full program is administered by ESA with a generous $1.5 million grant from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Complete details of the program can be obtained at their website (www.leopold.orst.edu). At the first meeting in June 1999 the fellows were introduced to techniques to expand their communication repertoire, were taught how to develop connections with other communities and were given inside glimpses of other intellectual cultures (e.g. journalists and the media). In September 1999, the first cohort of fellows assembled in Washington, and spent a week learning and absorbing the process of policy making. Breakout sessions at both meetings allowed them to examine ways in which they can polish their leadership and communication skills, while also providing practical guidance on career juggling.The founders of the Aldo Leopold Leadership Program hope that the training provided to the fellows will not only thicken their skins, but will also provide them with a podium to amplify their voices in the public and political arena. It is an imaginative and much needed initiative that deserves to be widely emulated.

ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH FOR AQUATIC SCIENCE AND ENVIRONMENTAL RESTORATION IN SOUTH FLORIDA

The theme of this feature—the land–water interface: science for a sustainable biosphere—provides a forum to highlight the relationship between science and resource management, using restoration of the Kissimmee-Okeechobee-Everglades (KOE) ecosystem of south Florida as a case study. This subtropical ecosystem encompasses 16 counties and 44 000 km2, from the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes in central Florida to the shallow estuarine waters of Florida Bay, and is within the jurisdiction of the South Florida Water Management District. During the next two decades, the floodplain and channel of the Kissimmee River will be re-coupled into a meandering river system with riparian wetlands and a more natural hydrology. An evaluation program on this restoration has been designed using ecological concepts and will provide opportunities to corroborate river/floodplain theory and document the varied responses of biotic communities to hydrological restoration. The evaluation program will provide the information needed for adaptive management of the river/floodplain ecosystem. Scientists and engineers are testing an array of ecological hypotheses on Lake Okeechobee, a central feature of the KOE ecosystem, to reduce uncertainty in predicting responses to nutrient loading, lake stage variation, and exotic species invasion. Research on the lake has clarified the linkage between physical factors, nutrient levels and biotic variables, and the frequency of algal blooms. This information has been used to support decisions and plans for managing the lake and its watershed. Restoration of the Florida Everglades is grounded in a diverse suite of scientific projects that are contributing to wetland science, ecosystem modeling, and restoration ecology. Studies on the effects of nutrients on wetland ecosystem structure and function have provided information at several spatial scales which is being applied directly to management issues. Findings from research and monitoring have been crucial in supporting decisions on the completion of six large stormwater treatment areas in the Everglades Construction Project. At the southern edge of the ecosystem, Florida Bay has been the focus of intensive research leading to changing paradigms on the relative effects of nutrients, turbidity, physical factors, and fresh water on the functions of this unique estuary. Scientific findings on the bay support the current direction of management actions to increase freshwater inputs from the southern Everglades, although much remains to be learned about this subtropical system. Management-oriented research has contributed to a large increase in the rate of scientific publication on the KOE ecosystem. Approximately 1500 articles have been published on the system in the 1990s, and these have contributed to advancing basic science as well as resource management. Ecological reports being published on the ecosystem use state-of-the-art approaches to time and space scales and appropriate blends of monitoring, experimentation, and modeling. Peer review and interagency cooperative planning have fostered relevant, timely, and objective science. The application of science to decision making in adaptive resource management plays an important role by clarifying those facts and concepts with the most significant predictive value for management and heuristic value for fundamental science. Improvement of the science–management linkage in south Florida and elsewhere awaits better interaction between scientists and managers in planning research and more effective communication of research findings. Relevant scientific information of high quality, particularly when published in the peer-reviewed literature, cannot be distorted easily and is vital to support informed and equitable social choices in the decision-making process.

The land ethic at the turn of the millennium

Aldo Leopold's land ethic has proved more complex and subtle than he envisioned. Never- theless, Leopold launched what, facing a new millennium, has proved urgent on the global agenda: an environmental ethics concerned in theory and practice about appropriate respect for values carried by the natural world and human responsibilities for the sustaining of these values. A blending of anthropocentric and biocentric values continues to be vital. These duties toward nature involve analysis of ecosystem integ- rity and evolutionary dynamism at both scientific and philosophical levels; any responsible environmental policy must be based on plausible accounts of ecosystems and a sustainable biosphere. Humans and this planet have entwined destinies. We now envision an Earth ethic beyond the land ethic.