Natural Man

There is much debate on what our role in nature is these days. To be the Jolly Green Giant fighting the machine of natural destruction is quite proper in our society. It is argued that we (man) have destroyed natural processes, have violated this mother nature person, meddling in what we don't understand and now we are suffering the consequences of those actions. And that is true. I live in Colorado and if you ever go hiking in the mountains you will see the remains of mining claims of 100 years ago that still affect the streams. Look at the Aral Sea, or what remains of it, in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. It's gone, used up for irrigation to support, perhaps unnecessarily, large crop industries and is now a giant, blowing salt flat. An ecological disaster. We all know the stories of how we have affected the earth in bad ways, and as some would argue, morally wrong ways.



But there is this prevailing thought that if only we just leave it, things will be better. Nature was better before we messed with it, the pristine wilderness ideal I'll call it. Of course there is some merit to it. There are few ideas/philosophies that are completely devoid of truth. Yet, it simply is not true. For nature to thrive, man must be involved. There are many examples of this. Take an orchard for instance. Trees don't just bear good fruit naturally, they must be pruned, they must be taken care of, they must be protected. How about reclaiming desert? The country of Israel is a great example of this, where farmers have perfected the efficient use of water and have made arid land fertile once again. This is especially true in America as well. The vast amounts of water that is stored and used wisely in the American West is something the pioneers 150 years ago could only dream of.

Of course there are abuses. And there should always be action against such abuses. However, while we are often the violators, we also have the unique ability, even the moral responsibility, to become involved in nurturing and using and developing this earth we live on.