Fossil fuels, metals, and other minerals must not be extracted at a faster pace than their slow redeposit and reintegration into the Earth s crust. If this condition is not met, the concentrations of substances in the ecosphere will increase and eventually reach limits often unknown beyond which irreversible changes occur. Nothing disappears and everything disperses. Substances must not be produced at a faster rate than that at which they can be broken down and integrated into cycles of nature or redeposited into the Earth s crust. If this condition is not met, the concentration of substances in the ecosphere will increase and eventually reach limits often unknown beyond which irreversible changes occur.
Nothing disappears and everything disperses.
The physical basis for productivity and diversity of nature must not be systematically diminished. We cannot harvest or manipulate ecosystems in such a way that productive capacity, ecosystem services, and diversity systematically diminish. Our health and prosperity depend on the capacity of nature to reconcentrate and restructure wastes into new resources. Human activities need to work in harmony with the cyclic principle of nature. There must be fair and efficient use of resources with respect to meeting human needs.