Man and the environment
Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008
Dear fellow souls, our question for you today is whether you are living with your environment, squandering it, or if you are fighting it? Your environment encompasses all the earthly physical elements that you come in contact with during your stay on the planet.
In the beginning, your species lived with the environment out of necessity. The use of electricity, natural gas, and other petroleum based substances was unknown and pollution was minimal. At first the building of shelter was unknown and naturally occurring land features, cliffs, caves, and large trees served the purpose. As man discovered ways to make or preserve fire, and started building structures out of rocks, trees, and animal hides he still lived in communion with his locale, but was able to better maintain his body temperature and health.
Initially man was a hunter gatherer and then found he could grow his own food with a little advance planning. He now had food, shelter, warmth, and a modicum of comfort. Then he became greedy and began to gather and try to preserve as much as he could find, kill, or grow. In some cases he was successful and in others he wasted what he did not need. He didn’t worry too much about despoiling the land because when it became foul he just moved on.
Next came mechanization and the ability to artificially produce just about anything. Want a constant temperature of 68 degrees Fahrenheit? Ignite the furnace or put more coal in the stocker. Ignore the fact that the by-product is pollution. Man began to get away from living with his environment and started using up the exhaustible resources of the Earth. He has become an unconscious unconcerned consumer. He takes what he wants and forgets satisfying needs. Man now squanders his resources and fights the cycles of nature.
Take a moment to think about this. Where are you in the scale of things? Do you care about the Earth or see it simply as your possession?
