Physical and Biological Bases of Life Stability

The stability of the global environment is controlled and maintained to a large extent by the activities of the Earth's plant and animal species. Conversely, this stability is necessary to ensure the future survival of these same species. In this wide-ranging work, the author discusses the physical, chemical and biological factors that threaten to perturb the environment beyond the point where the biological stabilization processes can react to preserve equilibrium. Important aspects include industrial pollution, the CO2 problem, energy consumption, population growth, genetic diversity and the Gaia hypothesis.