Our Relationship with Nature

We like to throw things away in our society.

One could wonder how, exactly, a conserve ends up in a shrub. I don't think that plants normally have these things in their "hair". But we stopped wondering about these kinds of things a long, long time ago.

So we are left with all kinds of things that don't really belong in nature. Of course one could argue that nature isn't in the middle of some street and rather in an undisturbed forest somewhere far away from human civilization, but then again, I think it's all around us.

So what has probably started with someone's whimsical decision to hurl a conserve out of their window and gave me this rather interesting artistic picture, has ended up in a question that deals with our relationship with nature, our environment:

What is our relationship with nature?

 

I think most of us don't have a relationship with nature in a fundamental sense. It's abstract, far away, and perhaps associated with being covered in mud during a hike, or the tree that fell into a car after a big thunderstorm.

At best we think of nature as a place that can make us feel better (like lying outside in the park on a warm, sunny day), at worst, it seems that nature is associated with our struggle to survive.

Nature is fundamental to us. Without it, we couldn't survive one second. The air we breathe, the food we eat, the water we drink... all of it comes from (or is) nature. Once we realize this, we might start making better choices and be more aware of our actions.

But then again, I might be wrong...