ABSTRACT
While this book has focused mostly on the general relationships between human sustainability and the ecological, environmental, food, energy, water, and social systems with which we interact, our actions also significantly affect, and are affected by, the very important, large, complex nonlinear systems (CNLSs) that probably receive the most public attention today, that is, economic systems (ESs). ESs are driven by human behavior in response to many factors, and all ESs are ultimately affected parametrically by human population growth, resource availability, and climate and ecosystem changes. Some of the factors that adversely directly affect ESs are shortages in fossil fuels (FFs) and shortages in human and animal foods (due to weather, shortages of water, loss of pollinators, bad farming practices, diseases, crop diversion to fuel plants, and shortages in raw materials needed in manufacturing) (Economic Situation 2010). From the principle of supply and demand (S&D; see Section 7.2), shortages generally result in increased prices of goods, services, and food.
