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Internet Book of Shadows, (Various Authors), [1999], at sacred-texts.com
The Fundamental Laws of Human Ecology
1. We're all in it together. Everything is connected to everything
else. You can't do just one thing. <Law of Interrelatedness>
2. The Earth and its resources are finite. or You can't get something
for nothing. <Law of Conservation of Energy>
3. As energy and other resources are used, there is an overall
decrease in the amount of usefulness. (Second Law of Thermodynamics>
4. Everything must go somewhere-there is now away. <Law of Conservation
of Matter>
5. Up to a point, the bigger the better; beyond that point, the bigger
the worse. or To everything there is an optimum size. <Brontosaurus
Principle>
6. Everything is becoming something else. <Law of Continuous Creation>
7. In most cases, the greater the diversity of a system, the greater
its stability. <The Diversity Principle>
8. Nature frequently but not always "knows" best. Note: People use
antibiotics to counter nature. <Nature knows best>
9. We shape our buildings <environment> and afterwards our buildings
<environment> shape us. - Winston Churchhill <Your Environment is You>
10. As human beings, one of our inalienable rights is the right to live
in a clean environment. <The Environmental Bill of Rights>
11. Our environment does not belong to us alone. It was used by our
forefathers, passed on to us, and we are charged with the
responsibility of passing it undamaged to all future generations. <the
Rights of the Unborn>
12. All persons must be held responsible for their own pollution. <the
Responsibility of the Born>
13. All persons are created with an equal right to live in dignity and
peace and to work out a meaningful existence. Everyone is entitled to a
fair share of the world's resources-provided one is carrying one's own
share of the responsibilities for maintaining an orderly world. <The
Law of Equity>
14. Comfortable living, in harmony with nature, should be each
society's goal. <the Goal of Society>
15. Our dependence on technology is, today, so strong and widespread,
that we are compelled to use technology as a means for getting out of
our environmental dilemma. <Technology-Part of the Problem, Part of the
Solution>
16. No national purpose however urgent, no political or economic
necessity however pressing can possibly justify the risk of bringing
all human history to an end. <Give Earth a Chance>
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