Arnold Toynbee excerpt

             In "Menschheit und Mutter Erde", the author, Arnold Toynbee, describes his point of view concerning man's relationship and interaction with the earth's biosphere and also gives an insight on a future development of both.
             Tonybee begins with a clear definition of the term biosphere. The biosphere is defined as being the layer of the earth's crust, water and air, which surrounds our planet. After this definition, he points out that our biosphere is very small compared to the diameter of the earth or other dimensions in our solar system or the universe. Up to now, it is the only habitable place for humans in this solar system, but over the past centuries man has played the most important role in the pollution and destruction of it. Therefore the search for other suitable biospheres in our solar system or in other solar systems has become of an increasing importance, but by today's scientific knowledge, it seems like this is the only biosphere in this solar system. Assuming that there are other habitable biospheres in the nearby solar systems or even in this one, the planets are too far away to be reached within the lifespan of a human being. And it is practically impossible to provide a ship with enough food for several generations in order to reach these planets. Therefore our possibilities to solve this problem are limited to this biosphere.
             Mankind has the ability to destroy our biosphere and will inevitably do so within a certain period of time if the exploitation does not stop. But man cannot stop the natural process of decay that is due to the fact that the biosphere is not autarkic. The biosphere's source of energy, the sun, is known to change and will eventually vanish some day as well. Therefore man has no influence on the natural process itself.
             Toynbee then summarizes the three elements of the biosphere and their relationship to each other. The biosphere consists of matter that did not come to life by adopting any orga...

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Arnold Toynbee excerpt. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 08:26, March 29, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/39423.html