Abstract
Human evolution is governed by non-equilibrium thermodynamics of bio-systems. Its laws are determining the ever increasing anthropogenic extraction of non-renewable materials and energy carriers, and pollution endangering the mankind to self-destroy the human race just the same way as the produced poisonous ethanol kills yeast on fermentation of juice of grapes. The dominating power of natural laws regarding materials, energy, information, and innovations is shown in the paper; it is stronger than the cultural awareness of mankind demonstrated by law, education, ethics, religion, and morality. Evidently, only natural catastrophes can make people act in a different way, towards lowering the pollution. Although catastrophes are increasing at an exponential rate, it may be too late for human action when heat waves, sea level rise, desertification, wood fires, and floods act strong enough to make the mankind respond culturally (non-naturally). Therefore, it is crucial to understand the natural laws of evolution and their influence on the human society. It is also vital for students, having the farthest reaching time horizon of their life cycle, to be acquainted with the consequences foreseen, and the adaptation strategy is available for the future decades.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
COM (2006) Commission of the European Communities, green paper – a European strategy for sustainable, competitive and secure energy. 105 final. http://www.energy.eu/directives/2006_03_08_gp_document_en.pdf. Accessed 20 Apr 2009
Earth Charter (2000) The Earth Charter. http://www.earthcharterinaction.org/content/pages/The-Earth-Charter.html. Accessed 16 Sep 2006
Glasser H (2004) Learning our way to a sustainable and desirable world: ideas inspired by Arne Naess and deep ecology. In: Corcoran PB, Wals AEJ (eds) Higher education and the challenge of sustainability. Kluwer, Dordrecht, pp 131–148
Goncz E, Wardencky W, Namiesnik J (2005) Universities and their role in enhancing human and social capital for sustainability. In: Proceedings of committing universities to sustainable development, Technical University, Graz, pp 90–106
Hodgson M (1982) Making more out of less. Chem Eng 1982:163–166
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2007) Climate change 2007: synthesis report. In: Pachauri RK, Reisinger A (eds) Contribution of working groups I, II and III to the fourth assessment report. IPCC, Geneva. http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/publications_ipcc_fourth_assessment_report_synthesis_report.htm. Accessed 15 Apr 2009
Lukman R, Krajnc D, Glavic P (2010) University ranking using research, educational and environmental indicators. J Clean Prod 18:619–628
McGraw-Hill (2002) McGraw-Hill dictionary of scientific and technical terms, 6th edn. McGraw-Hill, New York
Prigogine I, Allen PM, Herman R (1977) Long term trends and the evolution of complexity. In: Laszlo E, Bierman J (eds) Goals in a global community. A report to the Club of Rome, vol 1. Studies on the conceptual foundations. Pergamon, New York, pp 41–62
Sattinger D (1973) Topics in stability and bifurcation theory. Springer, Berlin
Schurz J (1987) Ökosysteme in systemtheoretischer Hinsicht. CLB Chemie für Labor und Betrieb 38(9):461–466
Sterling S (2004) Higher education, sustainability, and the role of systemic learning. In: Corcoran PB, Wals AEJ (eds) Higher education and the challenge of sustainability. Kluwer, Dordrecht, pp 47–70
Talloires Declaration (1990), updated (1994) http://www.ulsf.org/programs_talloires.html. Accessed 20 Apr 2009
UNESCO (2005) United Nations decade of education for sustainable development 2005–2014. International Implementation Scheme. unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001486/148654e.pdf. Accessed 20 Apr 2009
United Nations (1999) The world at six billion. http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications. Accessed 11 Sep 2006
US Bureau of Labor Statistics (2005) Employed contingent and non-contingent workers by occupation. data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/print.pl/news.release/conemp.t04.htm. Accessed 14 Oct 2009
Van Vlack LH (1973) A textbook of materials technology. Addison-Wesley, Reading, p 194
Wikipedia (2010) Culture. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture. Accessed 7 Mar 2010
World Bank (2007) http://www.google.com/publicdata?ds=wb-wdi&met=sp_dyn_le00_in&tdim=true&q=world+life+expectancy. Accessed 30 Sep 2009
Yndestad H (2004) The cause of Barents Sea biomass dynamics. J Mar Syst 44:107–124
Zaikin AN, Zhabotinsky AM (1970) Concentration wave propagation in two-dimensional liquid-phase self-oscillating system. Nature 225:535–537
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Glavič, P. Natural laws dominate the human society. Clean Techn Environ Policy 12, 591–599 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-010-0309-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-010-0309-1