Metabolism of society

In the last two centuries, humans have become the dominant force on this planet. Given their dependence on the global ecosystem and the services it provides to humanity, they should know the extent to which they influence key natural processes. The starting point of the monograph is the opinion that the current state and expected development of nature services (or more generally the quality of the environment) is not favourable in terms of meeting the needs of people - present and probably future generations -. < br> The second starting point is the existence of a relatively large number of approaches and methods to study the relationship between humans and nature. Based on these, it introduces the concept of social metabolism, which uses different disciplines and their methods to monitor and analyse metabolic processes in man-made systems, including their relationship to natural processes, and places the concept of social metabolism within a broader framework for exploring and applying the social context of environmental protection, which is environmental sustainability. < br> The monograph brings a number of new findings in this area (including results specific to the Czech Republic), which are based on the authors' long-term research.