Human Social System 👥 & The Ecosystem ⛰
HUMAN SOCIAL SYSTEM
The flow and use of critical resources is regulated by the social system, the set of general social structures that guide much of human behavior. The social system is composed of three subsystems: social institutions, social cycles, and social order.
Taken together, social institutions, combined with the flow of critical resources, create the human ecosystem. Each of these elements substantially influences the others. For example, changes in the flow of energy (such as an embargo and resultant rationing) may alter hierarchies of power (those with fuel get more) and norms for behavior (such as informal sanctions against wasting fuel).
Adaptation is continuous in human ecosystems (Bennett 1976); social institutions adapt to changes in resource flows, and in turn, alter such flows. The result is a perpetually dynamic system. For example, political institutions may adapt to the increased demands on forest resources by altering decision-making processes (such as increased public participation) and the resource flow (as when the legal system issues injunctions against timber cutting).
Adaptation is used here in a nonvalued sense; what is adaptive (or advantageous) for one institution or social group may be maladaptive (or harmful) for another (Bennett 1976, 1993).
We got to where we are now through a number of civilisation- and society-shaping "events", most notably the agricultural revolution, the scientific revolution, the industrial revolution and – in the West – the public-health revolution. By 1980, there were 4 billion of us on the planet. Just 10 years later, in 1990, there were 5 billion of us. By this point initial signs of the consequences of our growth were starting to show.
The flow and use of critical resources is regulated by the social system, the set of general social structures that guide much of human behavior. The social system is composed of three subsystems: social institutions, social cycles, and social order.
Taken together, social institutions, combined with the flow of critical resources, create the human ecosystem. Each of these elements substantially influences the others. For example, changes in the flow of energy (such as an embargo and resultant rationing) may alter hierarchies of power (those with fuel get more) and norms for behavior (such as informal sanctions against wasting fuel).
Adaptation is continuous in human ecosystems (Bennett 1976); social institutions adapt to changes in resource flows, and in turn, alter such flows. The result is a perpetually dynamic system. For example, political institutions may adapt to the increased demands on forest resources by altering decision-making processes (such as increased public participation) and the resource flow (as when the legal system issues injunctions against timber cutting).
Adaptation is used here in a nonvalued sense; what is adaptive (or advantageous) for one institution or social group may be maladaptive (or harmful) for another (Bennett 1976, 1993).
We got to where we are now through a number of civilisation- and society-shaping "events", most notably the agricultural revolution, the scientific revolution, the industrial revolution and – in the West – the public-health revolution. By 1980, there were 4 billion of us on the planet. Just 10 years later, in 1990, there were 5 billion of us. By this point initial signs of the consequences of our growth were starting to show.
THE ECOSYSTEM
Some ecosystems are marine, others freshwater, and others yet terrestrial—land based. Ocean ecosystems are most common on Earth, as oceans and the living organisms they contain cover 75% of the Earth's surface. Freshwater ecosystems are the rarest, covering only 1.8% of the Earth's surface. Terrestrial, land, ecosystems cover the remainder of Earth. Terrestrial ecosystems can be further grouped into broad categories called biomes, based largely on climate. Examples of terrestrial biomes include tropical rain forests, savannas, deserts, coniferous forests, deciduous forests, and tundra. The map below shows the broad distribution of biomes on Earth.
Anytime a ‘stranger’ (living thing(s) or external factor such as rise in temperature) is introduced to an ecosystem, it can be disastrous to that ecosystem. This is because the new organism (or factor) can distort the natural balance of the interaction and potentially harm or destroy the ecosystem. Click to read on ecosystem threats (opens in new page).
Usually, biotic members of an ecosystem, together with their abiotic factors depend on each other. This means the absence of one member or one abiotic factor can affect all parties of the ecosystem.
Unfortunately, ecosystems have been disrupted, and even destroyed by natural disasters such as fires, floods, storms and volcanic eruptions. Human activities have also contributed to the disturbance of many ecosystems and biomes.
“The Earth is under threat from so many areas that it is difficult for me to be positive. The threats are too big and too numerous,” Stephen Hawking, Evening Express
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