What is the Essence of Cosmic Ecology?

Terrestrial ecology reveals the interdependence of all living creatures configured into habitats which are determined by the specific planetary conditions of that particular region or biome. Planetary science also shows that there large effects such as tectonic shifts on earth and solar weather from the sun. Most of this is observable and quantitatively measurable.

Cosmic ecology requires a shift from a science of quantities to a different way of knowing, a science of qualities. This why one of the themes in this study is Qualitative Systems thinking. From a qualitative perspective there are different levels of being each with its own configuration of laws on the human, planetary and solar system scale. The essence of cosmic ecology is the study of the transformative interaction between these levels from the perspective of qualities of energy. This is represented in its simplest generic form in this diagram:

The essence of cosmic ecology is this Reciprocal Transformation also referred to as reciprocal maintenance. The diagram can be read as “the higher acting on the lower generates the middle”. What is generated transformatively plays three roles (1) contribution to the direct task or work (energy as the capacity to do work) (2) contribution to a cosmic role (3) production of ‘waste’ which is actually recycled in a different system.

The implications of this diagram cannot be fathomed without much of the background covered in the Themes elsewhere on this site.