The Biosphere - A Finite Life Raft

Biosphere was coined and defined by 19th century geologist Eduard Suess as:

"The place on Earth's surface where life dwells."

The biosphere interacts with the elements of the lithosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere.

Trees, plants, and grasses are rooted in the pedosphere which is the topmost layer of the lithosphere comprised of soil, water, air, and living organisms.

The silhouette of a tree against the sky is a fitting metaphor for the biosphere as an interdependent and inter-connected system. Our biosphere is a delicate balance of inter-connected dependencies.

Bare Oak Tree

"Trees are poems the earth writes upon the sky, We fell them down and turn them into paper, That we may record our emptiness."
― Kahlil Gibran

The biosphere is a finite life raft.

An anthropocentric view is that conservation and ecological concerns are meant to serve human needs. A holistic, deep ecology view recognizes the inherent value of all living organisms regardless of their human utility.

REFERENCES

• Deep Ecology, Wikipedia.