We are nothing more than accumulated cosmic dust assembled and fused together through a continuum of time with no accurately established beginning, nor an absolute final conclusion. How is it that we have become an organism, a species that possesses an ability to adapt and survive? What is conscious awareness, and is everyone in the human family cognizant of it? Are we the only functioning organism that can demonstrate this ability? Is what we do not know, what we do not know knowledge lost, or does it even exist? Are we as a species compatible with the natural ecosystem, the planet, the universe?

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The human life form can also be thought of as operating in a constant state of dynamic equilibrium. We expend energy throughout our lives; how we interact with the natural environment and with our fellow inhabitants. We extract resources from the Earth, build settlements, and produce copious tons of waste. Unlike the natural processes constantly altering the physical planet, humans have direct control over their decisions and ultimate actions upon themselves and everything associated with the planet. As a species, humans have made an indelible imprint that has been both beneficial and detrimental to biologic life and the natural domicile throughout which all living creatures reside.

 

Dynamic equilibrium can be broken down into its two fundamental components; dynamic or continuous change, and equilibrium or a condition of balance between varying, shifting, and opposing forces. When observing the planet’s ecosystem, which consists of all organisms and the total physical environment in which they reside, there is a constant exchange of energy driving movement and change. These changes are apparent when the balance or equilibrium within events occurring throughout the Earth’s primary systems (atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere) is disrupted. Such events as earthquakes, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, and other meteorologic activity (weather and climate) are a reminder of the complex, naturally developed processes (actions resulting in reactions followed by change) and interactions that all inhabitants of the island Earth experience.