Sun light

Planet Earth has a second and more accessible source of energy; sunlight! In the past, few critics derided Darwin's evolutionary scenario because, they claimed, evolutionary progress contradicted the second law of thermodynamics. The second law tells us that everything in the universe runs down or moves to a state of lower energy and diminished organization. Evolution on planet Earth has done exactly the opposite! Not to worry: the second law applies to closed systems, and planet Earth is not a closed system -- as anyone who has suffered a sunburn knows! By circling the Sun in the "Goldilocks orbit," the Earth and its atmosphere maintain just those temperatures needed for keeping water wet. Clearly, the second law holds true: the Sun is "running down" on an enormous scale. Intercepting less than a billionth of that outward flowing radiation, our days are sunny, allowing photosynthesis to power much of the living enterprise. Though a number of bacteria can make a decent living at the edge of lightless 'sea-floor vents, or by using a descent living at the edge of lightless sea-floor vents, or by using the energy of chemical degradation, all the rest of us are powered by our star. ~ Page 205