Culture: the totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought.
— From The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition.

A society’s culture can either be a tool or a weapon.

Whether the people are aware of it or not, whether it is intentional or not, a culture either strives to maintain balance with its environment, or it is destructive to its environment. There is no middle ground.

• If a people are in balance with their environment, it is their culture that enables it.
• If a people are continuously going to war, it is their culture that enables it. (The only option in dealing with a society that has a war creating culture, is to completely destroy the culture. It is an ancient lesson; to win a war we must fight the weapons that are used against us. Whether the weapon is a knife, gun, religion, or political philosophy.)

A society will use rituals and celebrations to teach and remind its citizens of what is important to the culture, and to teach the skills and ideas that hold the society together.

• A culture of war and conflict will focus on remembering fear, military achievements and the sacrifice of soldiers.
• A culture of greed and avarice will focus on the display material success (including gift giving) and the appearance of happiness.
• A sustainable culture will focus on the act of finding balance with the entire environment… not just the green parts.

A culture that is balanced with a healthy ecosystem, can be the seed that a damaged, unbalanced ecosystem grows around to return back to a healthy balance… but only if people make the effort to remember and maintain the culture though the period of damage and destruction.