Four Laws of Ecology
One of Commoner's lasting legacies is his four laws of ecology, as written in The Closing Circle in 1971. The four laws are:
- Everything Is Connected to Everything Else. There is one ecosphere for all living organisms and what affects one, affects all.
- Everything Must Go Somewhere. There is no "waste" in nature and there is no "away" to which things can be thrown.
- Nature Knows Best. Humankind has fashioned technology to improve upon nature, but such change in a natural system is, says Commoner, "likely to be detrimental to that system."
- There Is No Such Thing as a Free Lunch. Exploitation of nature will inevitably involve the conversion of resources from useful to useless forms.
Read more about this topic: Barry Commoner
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