Blog 4 - Experience of Nature

In class today we discussed humanity’s experience of nature as a whole, throughout our existence. The change in human’s perception of nature from the past to modern day lies in the shift from nature having intrinsic value to extrinsic value. Kohak sums it up by saying we used to see nature as sacred, then a partner to be respected, and eventually as a gift to be treasured. In all these views, nature was considered important for its own value (intrinsic). In today’s world we see nature as a collection of raw materials for our consumption. The perception of nature has turned to that of having extrinsic values. In other words, the value we give to nature is based on what we can get from it.

Kohak sums up how most people live their lives when he said “the sole meaning of life...is to accumulate and consume ever more...”. This is seen everywhere we look. People’s status derives from the expensive car they drive or extravagant house they live in. I’m sure we all have more clothes, shoes, DVD’s and other items than we actually need. This brings up another point, I imagine most of our clothes are made in sweat shops where humans are being taken advantage of for profit. It makes you wonder how we can ever solve this ecological crisis, because if we cannot treat other humans correctly due to our greed for profit, how can we expect to ever give nature the respect and care it deserves?

It makes me consider what would happen if we went through another Great Depression. My grandpa used to tell me about growing up in that world. Even after all those years, you could still see the lessons he learned growing up during that time. He never wasted anything, he would drive his truck or use his tractor until it died. His truck was very rusty. In today’s world most would consider that embarrassing and probably buy a new vehicle. He saw it that he was lucky his truck was still running after 20 years. If we threw away any food while we were at his house we would get an ear full that made sure we would finish our meal the next time. The frugalness he lived with would be very hard for most of us, but I think if more people were like him, the world we lived in would be much less consumer based.