Environmental consciousness in the general public and the development of ecology walked hand in hand during the 1950s and 60s. In the 1970s a major paradigm shift occurred within the science of ecology, especially its terrestrial branches. The reductionistic ecology took dominance and the new paradigm abandoned the ecosystem concept for at least a decade. The connection to the public environmental movement weas also, temporally, substantially weakened during this period. However, the older paradigm–holistic ecology–did not die, and a few ecologists have continued to develop the ecosystem concept. System science and new suggestions in the field of thermodynamics has been influential in addressing complex ecosystems far from equilibrium. This has created new perceptions on the ecosystem concept which over time may come to influence the nature of environmental consciousness. The new perceptions will be illustrated mainly by the works of the systems ecologist H.T. Odum.