What is our responsibility to the natural environment?

Throughout history we have tried to conquer the wilderness, tame the jungles, and master the elements, and we are still trying to conquer space. But are nature and humankind necessarily in conflict? We created civilization to protect us from the undesirable features of the outdoors and, to some degree, from harm. But now our experience of the natural world is so mediated that many of us know it only as it is presented on television or online. Has our relationship with nature changed so drastically that nature now exists within civilization, as contemporary naturalist Bill McKibben suggests? Do we now contain nature rather than being contained by it? How does our perspective on Ralph Waldo Emerson’s classic essay “Nature” change now that nature is threatened? Can we balance human progress and economic well-being with environmental protection?

In recent years, humankind’s attitude toward the natural world has changed. Before Rachel Carson and others began to alert us to the dangers of pollution, most people simply didn’t think about the environment. And looking back over the last half century, it is hard to imagine what may be in store for us over the next fifty years. Are we yet to see the consequences of what we have already done to alter the environment?

Once the environment becomes something we have to protect, our fundamental relationship with our world changes. We’re still dwarfed by the awesome power of nature, but if we are creating conditions that may change nature itself, whether through pollution, development of open land, or global warming, then we need to consider our responsibility. Can we do enough right now to protect our world? Are we at risk of becoming an endangered species?

The selections in this chapter consider the environment from many perspectives. As you read, consider your responsibility to the natural world. What might we expect from it, and what might it expect from us?