The Connection Between Nature and Man

The forest has always filed a certain role in different people’s lives. For children it might be their hideout. For seniors it might be a place to meditate. The forest is like clay and one’s mind is the mold, it can be anything you desire. However, as we grow older, our view changes. Before, the forest was a pirate ship. Now, you might look at it as a haven for all the bugs you don’t want in your house. Even I viewed the forest like that the other day. All the bugs underneath my tarp, annoying, gross, pests. I was climbing a tree and thought to myself, “When did tree climbing get so boring?” But last summer I stayed with family friends in Montana. We went on a hike that finished at a cliff overlooking a river. I was amazed. Later that week we went to Glacier National Park. We had stopped for a break when a mountain goat came down and walked right past us. I have that moment as my lock screen on my phone. We hiked maybe 11 miles, and looking back, even in the hail-storm that caught us on the way down, I love it. I don’t like looking at pictures of Glacier on the internet though. Somehow I convince myself that I will never return.

Some adults lose their connection to the forest because their connection was so much greater as a child, above average almost. As you age, you gain more respect for the finer things in life such as fine meats, cheeses, and wine. However, children are happy when they get to eat re-heated pizza. The same goes for elements of the forest. Just like fine wine, national parks are a lot harder to get to than a weird rock. I don’t think that becoming an adult means that your connection to the forest weakens. It is expected that as you become older you focus more on work and providing for your family, which means less time to relax and go outside. When you are outside less you gain less respect for nature. With less respect for nature and more focus on work, industry overpowers nature. This is when the balance of man and nature is upset. Either trying to control or defeat nature when we should work with it. Nature gets in the way of factories, housing developments, and humans. Since the Roman Empire humans have had trouble with nature. In 6 A.D. Augustus Caesar led his soldiers into present day Germany. The major impedance were the thick forests. Three years later, the Romans were marching through the woods when they came to a clearing. An entrance on both sides, the Romans marched through without hesitation. The Germans used this clearing to box in the Romans and ambush them. The Germans were able to push the Romans back in Teutoburg Forest because they knew how to work with the land. The Romans were quite successful in conquering Germany, but they only captured one territory east of the Rhine River. We need to develop a stronger bond with nature and be somewhat cooperative with its forces, or at least adapt to nature instead of destroying it. Nature adapts to us so why can’t we adapt to nature? An example of an adaptation of nature would be Dike 14. In 1978 The Army Corps of Engineers constructed Dike 14 and started dumping waste into it in 1979. In 1999 the corps stopped using it, but over time it had been consumed by the local plants. When there are plants, bugs eat the plants. When there are bugs, birds come to eat the bugs. Then species such as deer and coyotes started to occupy the 88 acre dump. It is a sanctuary away from the development along the shore of Lake Eire. Nature is a resilient force that has stood the test of time since…well, time. However nature isn’t quick or too intuitive. It takes many generations of species to change themselves and overcome an obstacle, taking thousands of years. Humans, on the other hand, can make something that would take a maximum of 50 years, not to mention the constant upgrades the object might receive. We’ve built dams, canals, windmills, all made to control or harness nature’s power for our well-being. But with great power comes great responsibility, and humanity hasn’t been so good at thinking about consequences. Dams, canals, and windmills do not negatively impact nature, but many more human practices do. Burning fossil fuels, over fishing/hunting. Common practices that upset the balance between man and nature. Burning coal and gasoline results in carbon dioxide, CO2. The carbon dioxide gets trapped in the atmosphere, heating the earth, which contributes to climate change. With climate change, forest fires, hurricanes, and other natural disasters become more frequent and severe. As we hurt nature, nature hurts us. Over fishing and poaching are especially detrimental to the environment. Every creature has a job, to regulate or to be regulated, or to hunt or be hunted. If the predator of a species gets wiped out, then the species that they were “regulating” would greatly expand its population. More creatures means more food. Whatever species it eats never had the means to supply a population of such size, so they eventually get eaten out of existence. With no food supply, the original species that was being hunted dies. It could go on and on until something evolves or switches entirely to a secondary food source, but it would take ages to evolve and there’s a reason why it’s a secondary food source.

Humanity needs to start focusing on its impact on nature. We’re on this planet for the long haul. We need to disconnect every so often, experience nature, even the bad parts. It’s nice to remember what it feels like to be in the rain, to soak your feet in water from a mountain after a long hike. Terry Tempest Williams writes in her book Refuge, “They remind us what it means to be human-that it is our nature to survive, to create works of beauty, to be resourceful, to be attentive to the world we live in” (Williams 189). By going outside more we start to notice how beautiful it is. The sound of a pileated woodpecker, the loud buzzing of a bee, the orange sunlight on the trees, the tickle of grass beneath your feet. Even in you can’t go outside, try to open a window. Who knows, you might even get into camping. Like Williams said, to be human is to be attentive. Gain a greater appreciation for nature so that way you might feel empowered to save it and strengthen humanity’s bond with the wild.

Williams, Terry Tempest. Refuge. Pantheon Books, 1991.