Nature Cries Out: Humanity Must Preserve It for Our Sake - Essay Sample

Introduction

The role that nature plays in supporting human life cannot be overemphasized. Unfortunately, humanity has not been adequately playing its role in preserving nature. Nature is hitting back through some of the catastrophes such as floods, hurricanes, droughts, and wildfires. Therefore, for the sake of the current and future generations, humanity must reorient its view regarding nature and positively improve its relationship with nature. To fully understand the reasons why humanity fails to preserve nature, even though nature is critical for human survival, the views of different authors on the relationship between humanity and nature will be explored in this paper.

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The ability of the earth to maintain the abundance of life is increasingly being overwhelmed by the modern global economy. More and more scientific evidence shows that human activities are increasingly pushing the planet towards the edge. Several species have gone extinct, and many more are critically endangered. Global warming is advancing at an alarming rate, and some of the catastrophic events being witnessed around the world today can be attributed to this concept. Unfortunately, the world has been slow or completely ignorant in efforts to get the situation under control. For instance, the United States recently withdrew from the Paris Agreement, and most countries around the world are yet to reduce their greenhouse gases emission levels to the set targets (Zhang et al. 217). This shows that humanity has lost its touch with nature (Moran 134). The perspectives of the three authors will help shed more light on the relationship between humanity and nature.

Solitude by Henry David Thoreau

This work emphasizes on the fact that humans are a part of nature. In his solitude, as he walks along the pond and enjoys the animals, Thoreau states that the solitude makes him one with the nature and gives him a sense of liberty. According to him, nature makes it possible to have "the most sweet and tender, the most innocent and encouraging society" (Arian 38). Nature, according to the author, prevents melancholy in the society. In extension of the title of the work, the author rhetorically asks whether a dandelion in a pasture can be considered to be alone. In strong terms, the author argues that physical proximity does not necessarily cure loneliness. Even the best company, he argues, gets wearisome with time. However, he argues that one should never feel lonely in a planet that offers so much. Ironically, the author advances that solitude affords him great liberty by not binding him to any institutions. He compares this to the liberty that nature offers.

By making the distinction between loneliness and solitude as well as the role that nature plays, Thoreau introduces a frequently ignored aspect of the relationship between humanity and nature. Throughout history, humanity has solely focussed on the material things that nature could offer. In this greed, humanity has greatly hurt nature. However, in the rush to get the most wealth out of nature, humanity overlooked the spiritual nourishment and liberty that can be drawn from nature. In the essay, Thoreau advances that humans should reorient themselves and seek to foster the connection with themselves by looking into nature (Arian 36). This, according to the author, can also help individuals form real connections with each other leading to a more cohesive society.

Deer Among Cattle by James Dickey

Incorporation of nature is a central element in Dickey's poetry. Dear among Cattle is no exception. In this poem, he seems to present the difference between organic and free, wild and tame, cultivated, and domesticated. The poem talks about a deer that jumps over an electric fence to graze among cattle. Unlike the domesticated cattle that are being fattened for slaughter, the deer can escape anytime. In the words of the poet, "The only live thing in this flashlight who can leave whenever he wishes" (Mills 231). Another contrast between the cattle and the deer is bared when the author writes that it is only the deer that remains unperturbed by his presence.

Just like Thoreau, Dickey points out the freedom that nature gives. The deer, unlike the cattle, does not feel privileged to be grazing on human's grass. This can explain his boldness even when the cattle remain bowed in the presence of man. He knows that he can bounce over the fence once again and survive on forest's grass (Mills 231). Various aspects of the relationship between humanity and nature come to the fore in this poem. By surrounding them with an electric fence and making them timid, the cattle only have one destiny; the slaughterhouse. This can be compared to the destruction of nature by humanity for economical and personal gains. To escape the cattle's fate, the deer must jump over the fence once again. This shows that though nature offers humanity enough resources for survival, man's greed keeps him pushing to have more, a factor that has led to the degradation of nature as seen today.

Thinking Like a Mountain by Aldo Leopold

In this essay, Leopold narrates how they shot and killed a wolf just for enjoyment. However, as the wold died, he realized that "there was something in those eyes only known to the wolf and the mountain" CITATION Ald90 \l 2057 (Aldo). He goes further to explain how deer would proliferate and deplete the mountain vegetation in the absence of wolves. The depletion of the vegetation would, in turn, affect the stability of the mountain by increasing the risk of landslides. Therefore, Leopold argues that the mountain lives in fear of the deer and counts on the wolves to keep the population of the deer in check.

This essay shows how humanity has destroyed various ecosystems around the world, either knowingly or unknowingly. Actions that seem inconsequential, such as Leopold killing wolves with his friends, may have far-reaching consequences on nature (Beever 107). Moreover, while nature has a way of replenishing itself, humanity is increasingly reducing this inability. For instance, while a buck killed by wolves can be replaced in a few years, vegetation lost to deer due to destruction of wolves by humans may never be replaced. Humanity's quest to satisfy his greed has forced them into activities that have brought the planet to its knees.

Conclusion

The views of the three authors points to aspects of the relationship between humanity and nature that are rarely focussed on. In Solitude, the ability of nature to offer spiritual nourishment to humanity is discussed. This shows that humanity should not only focus on the material things that nature gives. James Dickey and Aldo Leopold, delve into the issue of humanity's greed. In Thinking like a Mountain, Leopold clearly shows how disruption of ecosystems by human acts that are otherwise considered simple can adversely affect nature. Any effect on nature ultimately affects humanity, since the survival of humanity depends on nature, Therefore, as Leopold realized as he saw the green fire leave the wolf's eyes, humanity must realize that it is their role to protect and preserve nature since their very survival depends on it.

Works Cited

Aldo, Leopold. Thinking like a mountain. Lone Goose Press, 1990. <http://www.northallegheny.org/cms/lib4/PA01001119/Centricity/Domain/1282/Population%20Ecology%20Packet.docx>.

Arian, Ali. "The elements of humanity and Sufism in Henry David Thoreau's Walden." Ars Aeterna 7.1 (2015): 35-40. <https://www.degruyter.com/downloadpdf/j/aa.2015.7.issue-1/aa-2015-0005/aa-2015-0005.xml>.

Beever, Jonathan. "The Mountain and the Wolf: Aldo Leopold's Uexkullian Influence." Resilience: A Journal of the Environmental Humanities 4.1 (2016): 85-109. <https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5250/resilience.4.1.0085>.

Mills, Ralph J. "The Poetry of James Dickey." Triquarterly 11 (1968): 231. <http://search.proquest.com/openview/4ec8ec915bc9cd0ffbb7017c541f7fc0/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=1817081>.

Moran, Emilio F. People and nature: An introduction to human ecological relations. Vol. 1. John Wiley & Sons, 2016. <https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=M8zBDAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP10&dq=impact+of+human+activities+on+nature&ots=_xjlMfk7HZ&sig=iuHagQIEA0vAMYEmjQBDoHKPXSY>.

Zhang, Yong-Xiang, et al. "The withdrawal of the US from the Paris Agreement and its impact on global climate change governance." Advances in Climate Change Research 8.4 (2017): 213-219. <https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674927817300849>.