The postharvest life of fruit is characterized by several well-studied, well-described physiological events and transitions. Principal among these are the respiratory and ethylene climacterics whose role(s) in postharvest life remain unresolved. Proposed is an integrative scheme based on the following assumptions: (i) Senescence is the overriding biological phenomenon of which ripening is a part. (ii) The energy demands of ripening are not sufficient to require a large respiratory increase. (iii) Irrespective of its specific mode of action, the general response of fruit to ethylene resembles, and presumably is, a stress response. (iv) Fruit cells are homeostatic and homeostasis is the countervailing trend to the stresses of senescence and ethylene. (v) Respiration, centered in the quasiautonomous mitochondria, is a measure of their homeostatic potential. The respiratory climacteric is seen as largely a mitochondrial homeostatic response to compensate for the degradative effects of incipient, programmed, cellular senescence. In turn, senescence is "fueled" by autocatalytic ethylene production which is an additive stress. The sequence of events begins when the response threshold is lowered to the level of endogenous ethylene by postmaturation, senescence-dependent increases in tissue sensitivity. Evidence and arguments, borrowed, adapted, or new, are presented in defense of this integrative view.