Our journey began ten thousand years ago with the Agricultural Revolution, when we broke

nature makes only what she wants where she wants and when she wants.

Cornell University ecologist David Pimentel reckons that society spends ten kilocalories of hydrocarbons to produce one kilocalorie of food.

We must draw our standards from the natural world. We must honor with the humility of the wise the bounds of that natural world and the mystery which lies beyond them, admitting that there is something in the order of being which evidently exceeds all our competence.

wide range of social, economic, environmental, and health-related factors, such as life expectancy, infant mortality, the general health of the population, literacy, crime, accumulated wealth, income distribution, air quality, water quality, and recreational opportunities.

The third signature of the prairie is its four classic plant types: warm-season grasses, cool-season grasses, legumes, and composites.

Self-assembly, then, is nature’s third trick of the materials trade.

The new questions should be “Will it fit in?,” “Will it last?,” and “Is there a precedent for this in nature?” If so, the answers to the following questions will be yes: Does it run on sunlight? Does it use only the energy it needs? Does it fit form to function? Does it recycle everything? Does it reward cooperation? Does it bank on diversity? Does

‘community assembly’ studies started to show up in the literature, and they suggested that you could get persistent communities containing as few as eight species.