Everything we use needs, by preference, to be used at a rate that nature can replenish in short-term natural cycles. Everything we use that nature can't replenish in a short-term cycle, needs to be reclaimed and recycled by human-driven processes. Examples of these are mineral resources. We need to reclaim and recycle metals like Aluminium, Copper. Similarly, everything we make or waste needs to be able to be broken down by nature in short-term natural cycles, or else we need to help nature to do it. If in all things we can copy and harness the natural systems that have driven the world's ecosystems for millions of years - we will do okay. But this does raise the questions: Should we be living simpler, less resource-greedy lives? Are there just too many of us on the planet? Example: Plants recycle carbon dioxide, taking the carbon to build sugars and plant oils, and recharging the atmosphere with the leftover oxygen. If we burn too many fossil fuels, and put too much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and there aren't enough plants to keep up with it, the carbon dioxide accumulates in the atmosphere and we get Global Warming. The short answer is: A perfectly balanced Ecosystem requires deaths to equal births, growth to balance decay, and inputs to balance outputs. That points back at Killbyte's answer: Capitalism is a system that thrives in a state of continued growth. So this raises a third question: Can we continue to be Capitalists and have a healthy, balanced Global Ecosystem? Too hard for me!!
