Basic knowledge of the interrelationships that exist in any system, natural or man made, can be a valuable aid in learning how to make wise use of the natural environment with which the city is endowed. The systems and the principles involved are the same whether the community studied consists of plants and animals living on a mesa, in the mountains, along the banks of the river, or on a school lawn. They apply to the human community which makes up our city, as well as the natural areas around us. A system consists of organized interrelationships of matter and energy. Change in one part of a system's organization affects change in all other parts of the system.
Every systems has inputs and outputs and energy transfers.
Systems involve transfer of energy in the collection, storage, distribution, and conversion of raw materials. Changes in quality, direction, or rate of flow in any part of the system affect the whole system. Usable materials go into a system, and waste materials come out of it. Everything is interrelated. The extent to which the public is made aware of basic principles of an ecosystem, that is, the community and its interrelationship with its environment, and is responsive to their implications will determine whether the Albuquerque of the future can retain the lifestyle and the quality of life considered so desirable by most of us who live here.