According to The Natural Step, the four systems conditions are non-negotiable and absolute' and since it is absolute, you can audit yourself in that direction. That is the challenge of The Natural Step. Substances from the Earth s crust must not systematically increase in the ecosphere. 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.