Protecting the Commons
What defines limitations imposed by nature?
Geology & biology create the arena ecologically against physical and chemical odds that limit success.
- the rivers
- the great plains
- the forests
generate together the milieu of biological wealth with which humans and all life participate, but which have contributed enormously to American civilization.
This geological & biological wealth is characterized by:
1. Red Queen hypothesis (running faster to stay in place); both a metaphor & a condition.
2. Natural, sexual & artificial (technology) selection: corn, horses, cattle, cotton.
3. All side effects are nonetheless effects as intrusions: fur trade, mining, cities.
4. Rates of restoration vary depending on contingent factors, forests, aquifers, springs, wildlife and fisheries.Biology, history and geography impose inevitable limitations to which all life must adapt.
