Natural forces invariably act to degrade the capabilities of any system installed; as a consequence, all systems have a limited life.

This degradation phenomenon is well recognised and referred to – even tax deductible – as ‘wear and tear’ and the need for maintenance; governments and businesses make allowances in their budgets for maintenance of systems and replacements when systems have finished their useful lives; however, where mankind shows naivety is that although the detail is appreciated, it has not considered it with holistic implications.

Society uses exhaustible natural resources to build the constructs of civilization which natural forces age; despite the utilization of more of these depleting resources for maintenance.

The simple reality is that society has irreversibly drawn down on available natural capital to build up an edifice of civilization that natural forces continually wear down; thus industrial civilization is inherently unsustainable and it will decline rapidly as the available natural capital becomes scarcer.

Energy drives our system and the energy sources – concentrated solar energies stored in fossil fuels – are nearing total depletion, the human species will soon have run its course not unlike every other species that has eaten itself out of house and home; extinction is a natural phenomenon.