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. Meaning Rationale 1. Substances from the Earth's crust must not systematically increase in the ecosphere. 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.
Nothing disappears and everything disperses.
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.