Summary of Chapter 21 – “Who Is the Earth?”

It is crucially necessary to develop understanding of and relationship with Earth. This is a path for individuals and, though talent and vision are unequally distributed, persistence and patients are needed by all, and some level of vision is possible for anyone. The...

Summary of Chapter 20 – “Who Is the Earth?”

Learning about cultures that have lived sustainably with Earth for a long periods of time can be helpful to our understanding of this complex system. We look at two cultures in particular: the Australian Aborigines, and the Kogi of Colombia.   Over at least...

Summary of Chapter 19 – “Who Is the Earth?”

The author’s internal reflections have revealed several attitudes that hinder a larger understanding of Earth. While not necessarily shared to the same extent by everyone, these attitudes may be worth describing. The first is the unstated assumption that Science has...

Summary of Chapter 18 – “Who Is the Earth?”

We come now to the time that humanity lives on earth. We have seen that Nature has developed two tendencies from the beginning. The first is the development of awareness or “mind”, present even in the very first self-generating metabolism. This awareness has clearly...

Summary of Chapter 17 – “Who Is the Earth?”

In order to catch a glimpse of the current balance and complexity of feedback loops, we look at the coccolithophore, a marine algae, resident of the layer of the ocean plankton. This thin layer of tiny, drifting creatures in the top several feet of the ocean, is the...

Summary of Chapter 16 – “Who Is the Earth?”

The workings of stage five are far more complex and interconnected than the previous four stages. Instead of killing whole plants and eating them, insect and mammal predators have been engaged to take only portions of a plant and to help the plants in return.  ...