Earth in Our Care

Earth's social, environmental, and economic fabric is being threatened from all sides by such challenges as global warming, violence, poverty, and general environmental degradation due to unsustainable use of the Earth's resources. Nations in the West, whose economies became industrialized early, bear the brunt of responsibility for damage done to the environment so far. Nevertheless, as densely populated countries, like China, India, and Brazil, quickly transition to technology-based, consumer economies, demands for Earth's resources might reach a breaking point.

As Chris Maser puts it, fulfilling our obligation as environmental trustees—of Earth as a biological living trust—requires fundamental changes in our social consciousness and cultural norms. To meet these challenges, we need to fundamentally reframe our way of thinking. Instead of arbitrarily delineating our seamless world into discrete parts, we need a more holistic approach—one that acknowledges the interconnectedness of causes and effects, actions and consequences. Knowledge of systems is essential if we are to pass a habitable, healthy planet to future generations. Proper trusteeship is critical to maintaining the Earth's ability to produce, nourish, and maintain life. Without it, we risk becoming the authors of our own demise.

But what is systems thinking, and how can we harness it to put our planet on a sustainable course? Systems thinking goes to and deals with the root cause of a problem as opposed to symptomatic thinking, which deals with the world in piecemeal fashion. In this book, Maser reviews some of the factors that relate to the workings, services, and resilience of our planet—from nature's biophysical principles to the role of ignorance and knowledge, to the tradeoffs of every decision and action, to ever-changing landscape patterns, to the never-ending cycles of cause and effect, and so on. In doing so, he makes a unique and simultaneous use of both scientific and philosophical reasoning in articulating how the Earth works according to the immutable biophysical laws that govern it. The book goes beyond superficial recommendations, however, to call for self-conquest as a fundamental foundation for social-environmental sustainability, whereby individuals, acting locally, can change the world for the better by having been here.

Sustainability has become an increasingly urgent global imperative. With that goal in mind, Earth in Our Care opens a new chapter in our search for practical solutions to environmental problems, which must include changing the way we think—raising the level of our consciousness—about the Earth as a living system and our place in it.
Global Imperative