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We present a conceptual synthesis to address the global ecological crisis. The current paradigm underlying life science appears insufficient to enable a solution to the crisis and may be part of the cause of the crisis. We develop a distinct "sustained life" to complement the current paradigm based solely on "discrete life". We present a three-model, multi-scale characterization of the original and fundamental nature of life. The multi-model, expressed as a hyperset formalism, is:
life = {environment{ecosystems{organisms{environment}}}}
This self-referential, closed loop hierarchy explicitly prohibits fragmentation of sub-units of life and prohibits separation of life from its essential environmental life support context. We integrate work of 1) Ulanowicz and Patten, 2) Rosen amd Kercel and 3) Lovelock and Vernadsky who developed holistic characterizations of life at ecosystemic, organismic and biospheric organization levels, respectively. This paradigm could enable actualization of a mutualistic win-win relation between humans and environment and long-term environmental sustainability.
Introduction
English does not contain a suitable word for "system of problems." Therefore I have had to coin one. I choose to call such a system a "mess". . . The solution to a mess can seldom be obtained by independently solving each of the problems of which it is composed.
Ackoff(1974:21).
The current mainstream paradigm that underlies life science appears insufficient to enable a solution to the current global ecological crisis. The current paradigm recognizes only cells, organisms and individuals as the valid and fundamental units of life. While these "discrete" (i.e., spatially bounded, localized) units or unit-models of life are clearly necessary, and the associated paradigm based on "discrete life" has advanced science for centuries, these ideas may not be sufficient in a world in which ?) humans have altered all ecosystems on Earth, 2) humans have pushed the fundamental life support capacity of Earth to its limits or beyond, and 3) problems are highly inter-connected and solutions must be multi-disciplinary and multi-scale in order to succeed. It is unlikely that we can extrapolate the cell-organism-individual paradigm of life from the past to make the systemic societal, community and global changes in understanding, behavior, technology, policy and culture needed to solve our human-environment crisis.
One "Grand Challenge" (NRC, 2001 ) facing humanity, as we and many others see it (e.g., Wackernagel...