Environmental Systems
Understanding how natural systems function, degrade, and interact with human activity. From geological structures to planetary-scale climate patterns.
Reading order: Start with the triple planetary crisis for the macro view, then explore specific case studies like the Aravalli Range.
What This Collection Covers
This collection explores environmental systems from first principles: how they work, why they matter, and how human activity disrupts them.
Each explainer builds your understanding of a specific system or crisis, showing the mechanics, stakeholders, and structural forces at play.
Why Read This Collection
Understanding environmental systems is essential for:
- Grasping the scale and urgency of ecological challenges
- Recognizing how local and global systems interconnect
- Evaluating policy proposals and technical solutions
- Understanding incentive structures that drive environmental degradation
Recommended Reading Order
- Triple Planetary Crisis — Start here for the big picture: climate, biodiversity, and pollution as interconnected systemic failures
- Aravalli Range — A concrete case study of how geological systems provide hydrological and atmospheric services, and what happens when they're destroyed
Key Mental Models
After reading this collection, you'll understand:
- Systems thinking applied to environmental problems
- How geological structures provide ecosystem services
- The relationship between local actions and planetary consequences
- Why environmental problems are structural, not just behavioral
Explainers in This Collection
The Aravalli Range: The Shield and The Sponge
Treat the Aravalli as a shield against desert dust and a sponge that recharges groundwater; when mining and encroachment break the rock-and-scrub machine, water security and air quality collapse together.