Introduction: Recent Trends in Science

Abstract

This book is about the emergence of a new ecology — ecosystem ecology, which was initiated in the scientific community in the 1950s (see for example von Bertalanyffy (1952) and Odum (1953)). The real ‘take off,’ with a tail wind coming from society, started, however, around the mid 1960s as a result of the environmental discussion triggered by (among many outstanding environmental books) Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring (1962), while Koestler’s book The Ghost in the Machine (1967) contributed to the initial development of systems theory. Limits to Growth, by Meadows et al. (1972) should also be mentioned in this context as an initiator of environmental discussion, which provoked a further need for a new and more holistic ecology.