As an almost absurdist starting point that highlights this spectrum - several eons ago byproducts from bacteria poisoned the atmosphere and threatened life on earth until plants and eventually animals evolved, enabling homeostasis to occur.

And some people today live at the periphery of Chernobyl by choice, much like the animals in the exclusion zone that are thriving.

So it's reasonable to point to an implemented standard and consider it an ideal, perhaps even worth defending!