Ecosystem is a term usually used for natural environments; in reality, this concept can be extended to much more: every living being is an ecosystem, composed of millions of smaller life forms, such as cells and bacteria that in harmony allow the whole, the body, to function and if this balance is ruined, various pathologies and problems can develop.

The same obviously applies to natural environments such as lakes, oceans, woods or meadows and to the Earth, which is the main ecosystem that allows life to all the other smaller ecosystems in it.

But even society itself can be considered an ecosystem, even a city, and even a family can be.

So, every smaller ecosystem interacts and creates a larger ecosystem, the community, the market and the economy are ecosystems, we are all connected in some way and every action has consequences, more or less based on the timing of the change.

Let's take plastic for example, it encourages the search for oil fields with disastrous impacts, environmental and health problems both in the transformation and in the use of the product, if by chance it was thrown on the ground or in water and not recycled in the right way way it would take tens or hundreds of years to dissolve, releasing chemicals into the soil or water, it could injure or kill the animals and plants present in the ecosystem but also poison them; animals and plants that will later be hunted, fished or collected for human consumption.

Even from a purely monetary point of view this causes problems, as plastic and all waste thrown on the ground, in part, is collected by public employees, this process is financed with the taxes of all citizens, stop throwing waste at land or getting rid of it in the wrong way (not recycling, not differentiating, etc.) would certainly lead to cleaner and more sustainable cities, roads, woods and entire ecosystems but also would lead to spending less money to deal with this problem, which means that you would have more money to invest in other activities.

All this to continue to remember the importance of reflecting on one's actions and understanding that SOMEONE ELSE cannot be expected to solve environmental problems, the only effective method would be to raise the awareness of each of us, remember that even the market, politics and society are ecosystems and we are part of them.

The only way to get a change is to start doing something to change, don't wait for someone else to start it, start it yourself.

In the next articles we will give a more in-depth overview of natural and artificial ecosystems, going to see what are the problems that afflict them and what can be done to try to solve them.