> The logic of capitalism – become rich by internalizing profit and externalizing cost – is the root not only of ecological drawdown and destruction, but also of socioeconomic inequality as well as political corruption when wealth buys influence. > – William Ophuls, Apologies to the Grandchildren But isn't internalizing proft and externalizing cost also the logic of life? Externalizing cost is equivalent to expelling waste, which even the tiniest of cells does. The difference is that the waste expelled by the cell can be used by the life around it. Humans are producing waste at a speed and scale which cannot be metabolised by life. Or more accurately, life in terms that are familiar to us. For if we zoom out to much longer time scales, we can see that life will eventually metabolize everything. Korean artist Hanna Chang discovered new forms of "rock" formed from plastic. Life is infinitely creative, and will always find a home for itself. As Lovelock wrote in his book Gaia, a new look at life on earth: > Pollution is not, as we are so often told, a product of moral turpitude. It is an inevitable consequence of life at work. The second law of thermodynamics clearly states that the low entropy and intricate, dynamic organization of a living system can only function through the excretion of low-grade products and low-grade energy to the environment. Criticism is only justified if we fail to find neat and satisfactory solutions which eliminate the problem while turning it to advantage. To grass, beetles, and even farmers, the cow's dung is not pollution but a valued gift. In a sensible world, industrial waste would not be banned but put to good use. The negative, unconstructive response of prohibition by law seems as idiotic as legislating against the emission of dung from cows.