Alexandre Dumas probably wasn’t thinking about the ecosystem when he coined the phrase ‘All for one and one for all’. Yet it’s very applicable. Living things are interconnected to each other and the Earth. The atmosphere exchanges oxygen and carbon dioxide. Humans breath in oxygen and breath out carbon dioxide. Plants breath in carbon dioxide and breath out oxygen.

Atoms are essentially intransmutable. Energy isn’t. Energy transfers from a high potential to a lower potential. That is all. Humans acquire and use energy in two different ways. We need energy to power our bodies and remain alive. And, we use energy to maintain our technology. Yet, this energy isn’t infinite. Only a finite amount of energy is available for every living thing. The more that humans use, the less there is for other living creatures; plant and animal. If we take too much energy for ourselves, we impair the ecosystem. If we damage the ecosystem beyond repair, we equally damage our own future, likely beyond repair. The ecosystem is all for humans but also humans owe all to the ecosystem.