Methow Conservancy: “Big Ecology: A Short History of Nearly Everything”

Notes from the 1st class of the Big Ecology Conservation Course by Course Volunteer Bob Herbert

Dana Visalli was the first speaker in the Methow Conservancy’s 6-week long Big Ecology course that started on Jan. 28, and he did a wonderful job opening our minds. We covered fourteen billion years of history, chemistry, astronomy, biology and geology in two hours and it was a humbling experience. Homo sapiens have only occupied a tiny fraction of time and space when you look at the overall development of the universe, and this is an enlightening way for us to view our existence. Humanity tends to believe the world revolves around them and their needs, to the point that Aristotle believed the earth was the center of the solar system.

The Methow Conservancy created the Big Ecology course based on “Big History.” Big History is a unique approach to the evolution of the universe and it is currently being taught in numerous universities around the globe, and over 50 high schools. It provides an excellent framework for how we have arrived, and what our place in the universe is. Instead of breaking down and studying microcosms of the whole picture, big ecology incorporates many disciplines of science and reveals their interdependency through time.

Dana said there were five themes of our evolving universe. The Universe: 1. has a history & a story. 2. has a direction—increasing complexity. 3. is emergent—always new. and developing 4. Is ecological: everything is related and connected, and 5. humans are part of the story.

The Orion Nebula, a well known star-forming region in Orion's belt

Dana broke down the evolution of the universe into eight major thresholds that marked profound increases in complexity and energy concentration. The first threshold was the beginning, or what many call the “big bang.” The theory states that all matter in the universe began as one mass the size of a pin head. Because astronomers have confirmed the universe is expanding, they believe the original pinhead sized mass exploded with great force.

After the big-bang occurred the universe was made up of nothing but hydrogen, the first element of the periodic table. After a few hundred million years they decided to have a relationship and they formed helium (H2). When two H fuse to He, the H atoms give up about 1% (0.7%) of their mass—which is transformed into energy. All life on earth owes its existence to this 0.7% energy release. With the help of gravity, the rapidly expanding helium and hydrogen began to form stars and galaxies, giving us the second threshold.

The third threshold is the evolution, over time, of the 92 natural elements. Additional heavier elements formed during the creation of stars and they included carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, sodium, and magnesium. It is fun to think that the building blocks for life on earth find their roots in the stars. Stars collapsed into super novas and the energy from those explosions provided us with the remaining heavier elements found on the periodic table. All of the elements necessary to form planets existed at this point and with more help from gravity, the solid cores of planets began forming.

Our home, taken by NASA

The fourth threshold is the creation of the solar system and the earth. The fifth is the origin of life, and the evidence suggests that this happened only once, indicating that all life is related as it comes from a single ancestor. It is thought that the conditions for life to emerge existed 4 billion years ago when there was no ozone layer and only a weak magentosphere to block out cosmic radiation and that such conditions no longer exist.

The sixth threshold occurred when photosynthesis and the production of oxygen began. This opened up the door to plant life on earth. The Biologist Lynn Margulis said, “Photosynthesis is undoubtedly the most important single metabolic innovation in the history of life on the planet.”

Dana called the 7th threshold, “the community of life,” or life working together. Life continued to evolve from single cell organisms into multi-cell, two-walled organisms that contained DNA. It was thought that a single cell organism attempted to eat a smaller single cell organism and instead of digesting the cell, it evolved into a two-walled cell with mitochondria. Separate organisms blended together, creating new wholes that were greater than the sum of their parts. This marked the beginning of sexual reproduction and the diversification of species on earth. The seventh threshold occurred when life began growing in communities. Communities of microscopic bacteria and mold are responsible for breaking down dead materials and recycling the individual elements back to the earth. 100 percent efficiency through recycling is the only reason the universe has been able to survive for 14 billion years, and humanity could learn a thing or two from this model.

The final threshold was the growth of the brain and the emergence of collective learning and symbolic thought. Organisms moved beyond basic survival and reproduction at this point and began creative thought and expression. For Homo sapiens this meant the beginning of artwork and language. One of the most fascinating aspects to the development of the complexity of life on earth is the increasing amount of energy needed at each level of existence. When you compare the energy densities of galaxies to the human brain we discover that the brain is 150,000 times more energy intensive. We think of stars as superheated balls of fire and energy, but because they are so huge, their energy density is only 2 erg/second. As we work our way down in size we find that planets are 75 erg/sec; plants are 900 erg/sec; animals are 20,000 erg/sec; brains are 150,000 erg/sec; and society on earth is 500,000 erg/sec.

A major point Dana made is that the human brain is an emergent phenomenon that is still evolving.

Dana said all of the events that have occurred to get us from one threshold to another are called “Goldilocks” moments. These occur when everything needed for change is in the right place in exactly the right amounts (heat, gravity, etc). These quantum leaps in evolution could not have occurred if any one piece of the puzzle was a fraction of a percent different.

Society on earth is 250,000 times more energy intensive than stars. One of the reasons modern civilization creates the largest demand on the universe’s energy is due to the rate of humanity’s consumption, combined with our inefficiencies. Primitive man needed about 2,000 kilocalories per day. As we developed into hunters and gatherers we used about 5,000 kilocalories per day. The development of early agriculture increased the demand to around 12,000 kilocalories per day. Skip ahead several thousand years, and we are currently using around 260,000 kilocalories/day/person to live in our modern industrial society, more than 1000x the amount needed to sustain the body. (And, Dana also reminded us that the human population today is 7.1 billion and is growing by 225,000 a day, 80 million people a year.)

Many scientists believe we are in a 6th "mass extinction event."

How has it come to pass that humanity commands so much energy? Dana said the answer seems to be humans’ unique capacity for collective learning. He continued, that this then could be the human dilemma: can the powers of symbolic thought, or we could say rational, cognitive thought, master the ancient, genetically-programmed behaviors (eat, survive, reproduce) that drive animals with smaller brains, and still seem to be a dominant force in humanity today? Or, in other words, can the very thing - our evolving brain - that has created such an unsustainable pattern of consumption and growth also emerge to become the thing that saves us (and the planet)?

A clear point in Dana’s talk was that the universe is emergent. New phenomena are always emerging. An emergent universe is never finished, it is always in process. Humans have been formed by the forces at work in the universe. Humans have a place in this story. We are an emergent work in progress.