Introduction

These days, it's fashionable to look to nature for the solution to all our problems. This ignores centuries of struggle in which nature was an implacable enemy to be defended against, dominated and, ultimately, exploited. With a few remarkable exceptions, such as the work of Leonardo da Vinci, whose achievements are more intellectual than practical, human technological progress owes nothing to nature! Today, however, nature is in a state of advanced decrepitude, but our knowledge of it is leading us to look at it with fresh eyes. Correctly placed in nature – as an organism remarkably well adapted to external constraints –, Man (Homo sapiens, Primate, Hominidae) faces the same challenges as all other living beings. The path we have chosen to face them, and so far successfully, is unique on the planet. Largely based on the exploitation of natural resources, this approach is showing its limitations....