Nature Bats Last
September, 2005
When I returned from my Burning Man experience to find that the entire city of New Orleans had been devastated by Hurricane Katrina, although I was deeply saddened by the human loss and suffering, I was not surprised by the damage. This type of event, after all was inevitable. New Orleans is a city that sits some 8 feet below sea level, and if nature could have its way, would already be under water. The US Army Corps of Engineers spends millions of dollars annually to try to stop the natural shift of the Mississippi's flow from going down the Atchafalaya, one of its distributary branches. Hence, without the Army Corps of Engineers efforts, the natural flow of the Mississippi river would have already engulfed New Orleans, Baton Rouge and all of the industries in between them. This begs the questions: How long can man "control" nature? And is our attempt to control of nature justifiable?
The great ecologist Barry Commoner studying the relationship between the natural environment and the human environment came up with 4 principles of ecology:
1) Everything is connected to everything else (or, you can never do just one thing).
2) Everything must go somewhere.
3) Nature knows best.
4) There is no such thing as a free lunch.
In the most basic of language, Commoner's principles lay out the way that NATURE operates.In practice, these principles are avoided and NEGLECTED in the way that humans interact with nature. Unlike the business world, in Commoner's vision there are no externalities or side effects. An effect is an effect and will be felt somewhere.
The fact that all of our undertakings are contained and sustained by the natural environment goes totally unrecognized in our Urban-Industrial culture. Consequently, we have lost our intrinsic ties with the natural environment and the awe that the natural world once inspired. I am not just talking about epic mountain vistas, or beautiful lakes, but more importantly, the connection to our basic needs. In contrast, older cultures viewed even the gathering of vegetables as a vital, spiritual interaction with Mother Earth.
In his book, The Voice of the Earth, Theodore Rosak notes, "The environment that matters most is not a social construction, it is given by nature at large.Until civilized society began to manhandle it, that environment could not help but be "perfect,"since it is all there is: the evolutionary record left behind by time and matter, a magnificence beyond words, the stuff of high art and worship. All we can seek to achieve is a perfect response to that environment, one that allows us to grow, move, and act within it gracefully."
It is difficult to blame the destruction left in the wake of Hurricane Katrina , or other environmental damage, on a particular person, miscalculation, or event. Moreover, it is wrong to try to make people feel guilty for their environmentally inept behavior. What we have to realize as a collective group of human beings is that we depend on the environment for all of our needs and that we must respect the will and power of the natural world. This means not building in a flood plain, on a fault line, or expanding a city that is below sea level. Better understanding and planning go a long way.
Ultimately, we became who we are as humans by living in accord with the natural environment, and for eons the natural environment was HOLY... in and of itself. The poet Robert Bly puts it well, "When we deny there is consciousness in nature, we also deny consciousness to the worlds we find going through nature; and we end up with only one world, the world of McDonald's, and that is exploitable.
We are part of nature, always have been, and always will be. This begs the question: Were we ever really in control?
Barry Commoner later added a fifth principle to his theory of ecology:
5) Nature bats last.
- Tyler
When I returned from my Burning Man experience to find that the entire city of New Orleans had been devastated by Hurricane Katrina, although I was deeply saddened by the human loss and suffering, I was not surprised by the damage. This type of event, after all was inevitable. New Orleans is a city that sits some 8 feet below sea level, and if nature could have its way, would already be under water. The US Army Corps of Engineers spends millions of dollars annually to try to stop the natural shift of the Mississippi's flow from going down the Atchafalaya, one of its distributary branches. Hence, without the Army Corps of Engineers efforts, the natural flow of the Mississippi river would have already engulfed New Orleans, Baton Rouge and all of the industries in between them. This begs the questions: How long can man "control" nature? And is our attempt to control of nature justifiable?
The great ecologist Barry Commoner studying the relationship between the natural environment and the human environment came up with 4 principles of ecology:
1) Everything is connected to everything else (or, you can never do just one thing).
2) Everything must go somewhere.
3) Nature knows best.
4) There is no such thing as a free lunch.
In the most basic of language, Commoner's principles lay out the way that NATURE operates.In practice, these principles are avoided and NEGLECTED in the way that humans interact with nature. Unlike the business world, in Commoner's vision there are no externalities or side effects. An effect is an effect and will be felt somewhere.
The fact that all of our undertakings are contained and sustained by the natural environment goes totally unrecognized in our Urban-Industrial culture. Consequently, we have lost our intrinsic ties with the natural environment and the awe that the natural world once inspired. I am not just talking about epic mountain vistas, or beautiful lakes, but more importantly, the connection to our basic needs. In contrast, older cultures viewed even the gathering of vegetables as a vital, spiritual interaction with Mother Earth.
In his book, The Voice of the Earth, Theodore Rosak notes, "The environment that matters most is not a social construction, it is given by nature at large.Until civilized society began to manhandle it, that environment could not help but be "perfect,"since it is all there is: the evolutionary record left behind by time and matter, a magnificence beyond words, the stuff of high art and worship. All we can seek to achieve is a perfect response to that environment, one that allows us to grow, move, and act within it gracefully."
It is difficult to blame the destruction left in the wake of Hurricane Katrina , or other environmental damage, on a particular person, miscalculation, or event. Moreover, it is wrong to try to make people feel guilty for their environmentally inept behavior. What we have to realize as a collective group of human beings is that we depend on the environment for all of our needs and that we must respect the will and power of the natural world. This means not building in a flood plain, on a fault line, or expanding a city that is below sea level. Better understanding and planning go a long way.
Ultimately, we became who we are as humans by living in accord with the natural environment, and for eons the natural environment was HOLY... in and of itself. The poet Robert Bly puts it well, "When we deny there is consciousness in nature, we also deny consciousness to the worlds we find going through nature; and we end up with only one world, the world of McDonald's, and that is exploitable.
We are part of nature, always have been, and always will be. This begs the question: Were we ever really in control?
Barry Commoner later added a fifth principle to his theory of ecology:
5) Nature bats last.
- Tyler
posted by Purestoke.net at 4:59 PM
1 Comments:
Good stuff! I will definitely be back often and tell my readers! food to eat to build muscle
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