Throughout much of history, human civilizations have adapted to their environments, which have remained largely predictable over many generations. Beginning with the Industrial Revolution and exacerbated by the consequential growth in human populations, the world’s environments have undergone major changes that have negatively impacted the welfare and diversity of plants and animal wildlife. In more recent years, the quality of human life in many parts of the world has been adversely affected by environmental changes. There is an increasing prevalence of chronic illnesses, crop failures, droughts, fires, and overt pollution of the air and many of the World’s waterways. With an estimated 250 billion tons of yearly production [1], synthetic chemicals are considered the major contributing factor to environmental pollution. Chemicals, including pharmaceuticals, are also widely considered the answer to improving health and reversing environmental damage. This article challenges this assertion by suggesting an energy-based alternative. It is helpful, nevertheless, to review the progress occurring in biological and environmental sciences.

Biological research primarily focuses on discovering details of the chemical pathways that sustain living processes. The major theme of current research is to identify and, thereby, explain various anomalies, which can impair normal living functions. Additional endeavors seek ways to improve life, such as increasing longevity. The studies can range from the analysis of single chemical reactions to the biochemistry of whole cells and entire organisms. There are also analyses of the complex interactions of multiple life forms with one another and with their physical environments. Groupings of the interactions within the latter category are referred to as ecosystems [2].

The driving motivation for much of the current research is the discovery of patentable ways of modifying biological and environmental elements so that the discoveries can be monetized. This is easier for narrowly defined aberrant biochemical pathways that can be presumptively linked to specific human illnesses. The findings lead to therapeutic attempts to chemically alter the aberrant cellular biochemistry on the premise that the interventions will specifically correct the identified anomalies. It is more likely that the interventions will concomitantly affect other aspects of cellular biology causing various adverse side effects. These can be hidden or dismissed because of the failure of full corporate disclosures and conflicts of interest biases by regulatory officials, respectively. Of greater concern are unforeseen long-term consequences, which can result in catastrophic disasters, some of which are never openly discussed. The emergence of AIDS from the use of chimpanzees in the testing of polio vaccines is a likely example [3].

Environmental endeavors to add, remove, or modify components within disordered ecosystems are even less effective and more prone to unintended adverse consequences. Numerous unknown relationships may exist within complex ecosystems that only become apparent as the adversities emerge. Moreover, seemingly distinct ecosystems may also be shown to depend on one another with extended adverse consequences. The risks of uncontrollable spreading of environmental and health-related damage particularly apply to genetic manipulations that seek to alter the cellular biochemistry of certain types of plants and animals. The use of virus vaccines and sub-viral components falls within this category [3-5] It is hard to ensure that introduced modified genes or infectious agents will not undergo interspecies transfer. This has already occurred with the renegade cellular and bacterial genes identified in stealth-adapted viruses [5]. Certain of these viruses arose from polio vaccines produced in cultured cells from cytomegalovirus-infected monkeys [3-5].