Abstract

Ecosocietal Restoration Reestablishing Hurncnitv's Relationship with Natural Systems By John Cairns Jr. -B. F. Skinner! 4 ENVIRONMENT June 1995 uman society's dependence on Hnatural systems is clear. We need plants to capture sunlight and to provide food, building materials, and energy. We need breathable air, potable water, and arable soils. We need our waste products recycled. These and other ecosystem services are essential to human life.' and they are often provided with mini­ mal or no human intervention. Researchers estimate that the cost of supplying these ecosystem ser­ vices to seven people in Biosphere 2 was $9 million per person per year.' The rest of human society depends on intact natural systems to provide these services. There­ fore, our ecological capital (forests, grasslands, wetlands, soils, biodi­ versity, etc.) must be protected. In earlier times, direct and inti­ mate interactions between people (who lived by such activities as hunting and gathering) and natural systems affected human attitudes toward natural the nature of the world, particularly scientific, systems. Currently, however, direct interactions political, religious, or philosophical beliefs. with natural systems are limited for many­ What humans need is clear-more healthy more and more people live in cities, and few ecological resources,