Growth vector is how the framework states its objective without the two errors of maximize a number. Because ecological capacity is a profile rather than a scalar, the aim cannot be “maximize ecological capacity” (which invites a single score) but something directional:
Maintain a positive ecological growth vector — over time the field becoming more capable, renewable, differentiated, connected, correctable, alive, and traversable.
Two features matter. It does not require every dimension to rise every year — some may contract temporarily so the whole can move — which is why it is a vector of the profile, not a sum. And it points by the field’s weakest or most consequential constraint: a field drowning in information needs not more signal but direction; a wealthy field with exhausted caregivers needs renewal and care; an orderly field with no new emergence needs permeability. Reading the profile for where movement is most needed is the work of bearing. See The Compass Is Ecological Capacity.