human economic system is a subsystem of the system which is the

environment
The economy depends upon the environment, what happens in the economy
affects the environment, and changes in the environment affect the economy.
theouter heavy-lined box represents the boundary of the envi-ronment system.
This thermodynamically closed system exchanges energy, but not matter, with
its environment, which is the rest of the universe. The exchange is shown by the
arrows crossing the outer boundary at the top of Figure 4.1. The energy source is
the Sun, and the incoming flow is solar radiation, which is the basis for all life on
earth
The inner heavy-lined box represents the boundary of the economic subsystem.
There are four lines crossing this boundary representing four classes of service
that theenvironment provides to the economy.
Stocks and flows, and the relationships between them, are fundamental to the
operation of both economic and natural systems. A stock is a quantity existing at
a point in time, and a flow is a quantity per period of time.

In Chapter 1wesaid that sustainability is:

maintaining the capacity of the joint economy--environment system to continue
to satisfy the needs and desires of humans for a long time into the future.
In the final section of this chapter we use the conceptual framework that it has
developed to consider the ways in which economy--environment
interdependence could threaten that capacity. This introduces many of the issues
that we will be returning to in the rest of the book, so we can be fairly brief here.

Figure 4.1shows amenity services as the third class of service that the natural
environment provides to economic activity. There is an arrow from the Amenities
box in the natural environment direct to consumption by individuals in the econ-
omy. The flow is shown as direct from the environment to individuals to make
thepoint that for the provision of this kind of service, it is not necessary to com-
bine an environmental input with an economic input. Amenity services from the
environment can, that is, be consumed direct without being first transformed by
productive activity -- think of the pleasure derived from walking on a hillside on
afine evening to watch the sun go down. While it is true that transformation by
productive activity prior to consumption is not an essential feature of the provi-
sion of environmental amenity services, it is also true that in modern industrial
societies much of the consumption of such services does involve the joint
consump-tion of commodities produced in the economy. For example, our walker
admiring
thesunset probably lives in an urban area and has travelled to the hillside in a
motor vehicle. As another example, consider snorkelling so as to observe the
flora
and fauna associated with a coral reef -- the consumer of the coral reefs amenity
services is using manufactured equipment, and was probably transported many
thousands of miles by air transport to a reef resort where he stays in a hotel and
consumes imported food, drink and electricity.
B