By weaving together ecology and economics, and by building internally self-regulating economies, we can create supply chains that support life rather than degrade it
There are threads as old as life itself that tie the world we inhabit together. Life doesn’t occur in isolation, but in a sprawling, intricate barn dance of interactions.
Plants (and chlorophyl-containing cyanobacteria!) breathe in the air, soak up water, and use the energy of the sun to make simple sugars that they then reconfigure to make proteins, oils, lignin, cellulose, root exudates, aromatics and a whole host of other compounds. Root exudates help with the process of dissolving the bones of the planet itself and incorporating those minerals into their own bodies. The plants are food for animals (insects, birds, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, mollusks and more). Fungi, bacteria and other microbes consume the bodies of plants and animals and recirculate energy and matter back through the web of living connections.
The Original Economy
This interwoven set of energy and matter transactions make ecosystems the “original economy” of planet earth. This original economy is resilient, self-sustaining and self-reinforcing and has been in operation way longer than our human economy, which is merely a subset of the original economy. The original economy has survived dozens of planetary cataclysms and will out-last humans no matter what we do to it. Understanding how the economy of this ecological web operates is the foundation of ecological agriculture.
Support authors and subscribe to content
This is premium stuff. Subscribe to read the entire article.
