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Icon & Proverb
The icon of the whole earth is the largest scale example we have of a self regulating ‘organism’ which is subject to feedback controls, like global warming. The proverb “the sins of the fathers are visited on the children of the seventh generation” reminds us that negative feedback is often slow to emerge.
Photo Story
The islands of Uros in Lake Titicaca, Peru, are made from floating reeds. The totora reeds which grow in the lake are continually added on top of the islands to replace the rotting material below. The reeds have many other applications too. They are a food source; they provide the building materials for houses and boats; they are used for medicine and as fuel for cooking.
Historically there has been a balance between the rate of nutrient input to the water from human waste and the rate of of nutrient uptake by the growing reeds. Increased numbers of people through tourism have upset this balance, contaminating the lake water which is the drinking water and supplies a great deal of the local food.
See photolog for other illustrations of this principle |
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