Let the Earth do its own lifting

We hear a lot about what we can do to look after the earth . but clearly not enough about how the earth looks after itself.
The media have started using the great idea and word resilience but they don't know what it means ( it was my profession but few therebe that practice and teach it now) 

This  neglected and complex vantage viewpoint ( its easier to subdivide a problem than to see it "in context" ) is critical to the future of our world because the earth can do the job ( say recycling of water and nutrients ) a lot more efficiently than we can. How different is our anthropomorphic view different from that of our forefathers - really?
This reality of limited perspective is not widely talked about by engineers who are used to methodically building from the bottom up ( which is fine) and who have been seeking (politically) more control in environmental matters for decades . ( the problem for the poor is that our engineering solutions are often simply too expensive too!) Newcomers to conservation too are prone to take a control mode that doesn't work .
Nature maybe subtle and even slow but it can and is often more substantial ( solves 10 problems and not just one ) and efficient. Point is you have to study this to know this !
This post is a stub i will finish later,  but trawl through the site for examples for now.
I have done a lot of soil water engineering , but I  think planning with the environment is a more important  focus for all innovative and thinking peoples .

Some of the most efficient waste water engineering for example are best seen as involving soils and natural soil processes such as infiltration runoff and reprocessing by the millions of bacteria in soils.  Bookmark this page. Add your comments