Humans and Nature

6870 Words28 Pages
Understanding the Place of Humans in Nature( by James C. Williams The relationship between people and nature is dynamic, interactive, complex, and messy. To be sure, humankind has not always understood its relationship to nature in the same ways, for we come from many cultures and experiences that continuously change over time. Nevertheless, we are all part of nature, and our physical beings are comprised of many of the same elements and rhythms that make up the world around us. Yet, while we are part of nature, we also see ourselves as distinct from it, standing outside if not above the rest of the natural world. This is particularly true of those of us in Western culture, for unlike any other living creatures, we inheritors of the Judeo-Christian tradition think of ourselves as being made in the image of God, the creator of nature itself. So our relationship with the rest of the natural world is hardly straightforward and simple. One thing, however, is clear. Our relationship with nature almost always involves technology. We cannot think about the environment without thinking about technology, nor can we think about technology without thinking about the environment. And, over time, both technology and the environment have evolved together, and each reflects the influence they have on one another in this evolutionary reciprocity. Therefore, to understand the human/nature relationship anywhere, one must look at how people, technology, and nature interact. Human/nature relationships Ancients saw few distinctions between human beings and the natural world. They saw themselves as fundamentally connected with nature and the cosmos. For millennia, people lived with nature's cycles, rising up and bedding down with the sun, hunting and gathering according to the seasons and to their location on the world's land masses, and eventually
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