This section discusses our moral sense, or lack thereof, of nature. The way we define nature has a lot to do with how we perceive it. Kohak describes the 3 main ways that our ancestors viewed nature. The first is the hunter-gatherers (based on accepting nature the way it is and putting religious emphasis on it), followed by pastoral/ farming (humans should be caretakers of the earth), and lastly, crafts (which is based more on urban life).
Kohak then continues on to describe the producer-consumerism outlook which is very prevalent in today’s society. He describes several differences between this moral outlook versus the three previous. He says that the “driving motor of society ceases to be need, but is replaced by greed.” For the first time, this perception of nature is completely one-dimensional. It obviously does not recognize the integrity and intrinsic value of nonhuman beings.
This can easily be seen in the ruthless clearcutting, surface mining, polluted rivers, and poisoned atmosphere. I believe that if we continue with this self-centered perception of nature, we are headed down a road that will lead to irreversible disaster. I believe that we are taking advantage of nature and are using our resources frivolously. The earth is not a reservoir of raw materials for us to use endlessly. Eventually they will run out and we will be in a huge crisis.
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