Providing systematic reviews of all of these concerns—and setting them in their appropriate historical and environmental perspectives—is a task for a major book, not for a single chapter (unless it consisted of superficial summaries). Instead, I have decided to give this chapter a decidedly utilitarian tilt and focus on just a few key existential parameters, starting with the environmental circumstances of three irreplaceable existential requirements—breathing, drinking, and eating. Provision of these three preconditions of our existence depends on natural goods and services: on the oxygenated
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