pig

i meant in a practical sense of chemical flow for most purposes. we have not only solar radiation, but star light and meteors and other universal anal detritus smacking us every day. the problem with the breakdown of the ozone is that we may be a *much* more open system soon than we like. the problem with nitrates, sulfur species / other teratagenic compounds / plastics and other polymeric compounds / nuclear waste etc is that the Earth does behave like a closed system for them...their rate of transport is slow, their rate of degradation may be interesting, and what they chemical react to form may be more interesting. i certainly didn't mean to imply that we are cut off from everything else in the most strict sense.

agreed, and thundar the barbarian may not be the worst of it. the question is do we want to be around, and for how long. can humanity be a force for positive change / increased organization of the localized universe, or will we simply wipe ourselves out? it wouldn't be the first time a culture has destroyed itself; unfortunately (or fortunately) we are rapidly becoming much more globalized...i suspect that failure of our environment on the scale I believe we are talking about will not have localized effects within the scope of our planet.

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