How is global ecological design different?

The planet is the context for the regional and local systems that comprise it. The global is different because it has emergent qualities, such as an average planetary temperature, that its components do not. The global is different because of the scale of its field, because of the scale and completeness of the cycles.

Air and water, for instance are part of global cycles, that cannot be isolated or interrupted without long-term consequences.

The long-term trend towards the globalization of human economic systems has dramatic consequences to local economies. These may include the conversion or erasure of local resources for a one-time economic advantage.