The Earth is a highly structured natural spaceship. Its biosphere is a perfect information- and energy-processing thermodynamic mill that has been operating on this planet without excess or waste for the last four billion years. The biospheric mill runs on the flow of energy from the Sun, exploiting the free-energy differential between the incoming solar radiation and surrounding space, its “source” and “sink.” It structures and builds molecular matter on the planet’s surface into systems of increasing size and complexity, from crystals and macromolecules to organic species and planetary ecologies. LIFE ON THIS PLANET

On spaceship Earth the evolutionary build-up produced complex vertebrate species about 600 million years ago. About five million years before our time one among the existing species within the family of apes diverged from the rest. It began to rely more on its higher capacity brain than on muscles and physical abilities for survival. About ten thousand years ago this species learned to domesticate plants and animals to ensure its food supply. It began to multiply rapidly and transformed ever more of its environment to fit its own needs. The information on which it has been increasingly relying has been consensually generated “cultural information” rather than trans- generationally handed down “genetic information.” This enabled the species rapid learning in the manipulation of its environment, but because its learning has been flawed—it disregarded and thus transgressed the norms and balances of the global ecology—it has increasingly impaired the functioning of the spaceship’s balanced thermodynamic mill. As a result presently the biosphere has two systems, operating divergently: the basic life-support system (“nature”) and humanity, the system of human societies. HUMANITY AND THE EARTH SPACESHIP LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEM

10/12/20153 THE UNSUSTAINABILITY OF CURRENT PLANET PRACTICES 1.We use primarily the finite stocks of on-board fossil energy to sustain and build matter- based systems, and 2. We extract, degenerate, and discard vast quantities of the available storehouses of inorganic and organic matter =>We deplete the planet’s finite sources of energy; and degenerate its finite storehouses of matter 1.We use primarily the finite stocks of on-board fossil energy to sustain and build matter- based systems, and 2. We extract, degenerate, and discard vast quantities of the available storehouses of inorganic and organic matter =>We deplete the planet’s finite sources of energy; and degenerate its finite storehouses of matter

10/12/20154 THE SUSTAINABLE PLANET PRACTICE The Earth is a natural spaceship: it is 1.open to energy 2.closed to matter The sustainable planet practice is: : 1.To use the inflow of (quasi-infinite) energy to sustain and build matter-based systems, and 2.To conserve, recycle, and allow to regenerate the on- board storehouses of inorganic and organic matter. The Earth is a natural spaceship: it is 1.open to energy 2.closed to matter The sustainable planet practice is: : 1.To use the inflow of (quasi-infinite) energy to sustain and build matter-based systems, and 2.To conserve, recycle, and allow to regenerate the on- board storehouses of inorganic and organic matter.

The classical view and the information/energy flow view

Cradle-to-Cradle (C2C) strategies C2C principles –Waste equals food –Use current solar income –Celebrate diversity C2C principles –Waste equals food –Use current solar income –Celebrate diversity BIOLOGICAL CYCLE TECHNICAL CYCLE

The basic cross-catalytic cycle

Cycles in the Business World Auto- and Cross-Catalytic Cycles in the Business World