Introduction: Objectives and Background

Abstract

In this, the beginning of a new millennium and apparently a new era, more and more questions are asked about the nature of nature. We want bio-friendly processes in farming, in the means of obtaining heat energy and the means of propelling our automobiles. We want this to be done with minimum risk at the same time to ourselves and our children as well as to the biological community which co-inhabits the surface of the world with us. Perhaps this is a too big a problem with many different answers, sometime contradictory, but it is a true challenge to the young people of our world. As it turns out, the world of science is rather poorly equipped to deal with society’s new concerns. This is not due to negligence but to a historical process.