A reunion: Bringing Humans back to nature

 

INTRODUCTION

Humans have evolved themselves to the extent that the bond between nature and people has diminished over the period of time. In the hustle-bustle of modern urban life with deadlines to meet and delivery of a project, humans hardly find time to relax and focus on their life. In the race of earning big money and acquiring a luxurious lifestyle, people have actually forgotten what real luxury means. Is it only technological advancement? To some limit, yes it is. But what about being healthy, living a satisfied life, eating healthy and spending time with the family? These aspects are more important than just materialistic luxury.

 Since the late nineteenth century a number of descriptive models have attempted to encapsulate the dimensions of human and ecosystem health as well as their interrelationships. These include the Environment of Health , the Mandala of Health , the Wheel of Fundamental Human Needs , the Healthy Communities , the One Health , and the bioecological systems theory .

 Each, however, have not fully incorporated all relevant dimensions, balancing between the biological, social, and spatial perspectives. In part this is due to the challenges of the already complex research base in relation to its concept, evidence base, measurement, and strategic framework. Further attention to the complexities of these aspects, interlinkages, processes, and relations is required for a deeper sense of understanding and causal directions to be identified .

 

ANIMAL URBANISM

Animals have been crucial to the development of human civilizations, playing major roles in transportation, warfare, fashion , religion, entertainment , communication, companionship and sustenance. 

       For example: 

The bodies of animals have yielded: fat for soaps, perfumes and cosmetics and flesh, bone, sinews and feathers for food, medical, and religious purposes. 

We have used skins for clothing, book binding, bags, shoes, drums and furniture; and sinews, bone, teeth, feathers and wool for tools, pens, jewellery, musical instruments, blankets and paintbrushes. Animal muscle power has tilled fields , drawn carriages, and hauled timber and stone.

 Economy

The size of our population and its incessant desire to expand has an obvious impact on the environment.  However, that impact is magnified with the demands of industry and capitalism.  Capitalism is an especially destructive force in our regard for nature as it encourages a monetary-driven social hierarchy based on the encroaching exploitation of our world’s resources.  Our relationship with nature has now become purely economic.  We do not associate ourselves as a part of nature because we use it for profit.  Forests are cut down for the profits of the lumber industry and to make room for livestock.  Animals that we are undoubtedly related to, that have senses and the ability to socialize are slaughtered by the billions to feed an increasingly carnivorous population.  Resources such as oil and food are all unevenly distributed throughout the world and therefore used as a platform for profit.  All the while the environment bears the grunt of our greed.

 An Interdisciplinary Perspective of the Human–Nature Relationship

Through exploring the key concepts found in evolutionary biology, social economics, evolutionary psychology, and environmentalism, this has enabled a broader understanding of the various ways humans are connected to the natural environment. Each should not be viewed as separate entities, but rather that they share commonalities in terms of mutual or conjoint information and active research areas where similarities can occur . For example, there is a clear connection between social economics, evolutionary psychology, and biology in areas of health, lifestyle, and biophilic nature as well as between social economics and the environment in regards to balancing relationships of power . Similarly, economic–nature conflicts can occur between disciplines evolutionary psychology and social economics in relation to people’s affiliation for nature and industrial growth.

 

Time for Change

Humans play a vital role in nature just like everything else.  What separates us from nature though, is the ability to understand our place within it.  This cognitive capacity of ours has historically been the cause of a perceived division between man and nature.  However, in order to achieve a sustainable future in which humans assume a more natural role and have less of an impact it is imperative that we reconsider our role and relationship with nature.  A change in the way we regard nature has obvious political, economic, and social repercussions, but our cognitive ability obliges us to reevaluate our position in the world rather than continue to degrade it.

 Conclusion

After thousands of years of societal evolution, we find ourselves at the peak of technology and pollution.  We are already seeing the effects of our industrial ways through the extinction of species, the melting of glaciers, and the destruction of the landscape.  As we continue to disturb the world’s natural systems we are recognizing a rippling of consequences.  Our recognition of these effects suggests that our role in nature is far more influential than it should be.  Therefore it is necessary that we make major changes and that we make them soon.