Fractal nature. Sacred Geometry and Numbers.

Understanding the patterns of nature is a great first step to develop our ecological intelligence and with this our ability to develop sustainably..The Center for Eco-Literacy created by Michael Stone in California, United States presents the six most important patterns.These are:1- NetworkAll living things in an ecosystem are interconnected with each other in a relational network and depend on it to live. For example, bees depend on pollen and nectar from flowers for food. On the other hand, flowers depend on bees for pollination. Therefore they are interdependent, they are symbiotic systems.2- NestNature is made up of systems that are nested within other systems. Each system in an individual whole and at the same time part of a much larger system. The changes generated in a system can affect smaller systems included in it, just as changes in larger systems will affect the system in question. Example, some cells are located within our lung, which in turn is located within our body, which in turn is located in the ecosystem where we live.

A change in the composition of the air we breathe will modify the behavior of the cells of the lungs, which in turn will affect the total functioning of the organism. Some of these changes are very subtle, but others can have serious consequences for the proper functioning of the system.3- Cycles

The processes of nature run in cycles. Example, the water cycle. Water exists on Earth in three states: solid (ice, snow), liquid, and gas (water vapor). Surface water evaporates, cloud water precipitates, rain seeps through the ground, etc. However, the total amount of water on the planet does not change.4- FlowAll organisms need energy constantly flowing through them in order to live. The energy emitted by the sun towards the Earth is the sustenance of life and drives most ecological cycles. Thus, at first the primary producers (for example, grass) absorb the sun’s energy; then a primary consumer (for example, a sheep) feeds on the grass; later, a secondary consumer feeds on the sheep (for example, a wolf); with the passage of time; the wolf will die and decompose by the action of small organisms that are in the soil (for example, bacteria); and finally, the energy returns to the primary producers.5- DevelopmentAll life – from an individual organism, to a species, to an entire ecosystem – changes over time. An organism learns and develops, species adapt and evolve, and organisms in an ecosystem co-evolve. An example of development is the evolution of the human being from the ape to homo sapiens sapiens. An example of co-evolution is in the United States, with hummingbirds and honeysuckle (a plant with a particular flower). These have developed over time in such a way that they are mutually beneficial. The hummingbird’s color and slender stance match the colors and shapes of the honeysuckle flower.6- Dynamic BalanceEcological communities continually use feedback processes to maintain ecosystem balance.In the short term there is constant fluctuation, but in the long term it ends up balancing. For example, vaquitas in San Antonio eat aphids (a tiny insect commonly known as aphids). When the aphid population declines, some San Antonio vaquitas die; allowing the aphid population to grow back and then the San Antonio vaquita population to grow again. The population of each individual species is constantly fluctuating, up and down, but they maintain a dynamic balance to thrive together.