Nature

You know global warming is occurring, but why don’t you take any action against it? You’re primarily concerned for yourself. You raise money for the poor and may even feel just a little sad for the starving children in third world countries. However, you feel much less sympathy for the plants and animals that are dying from your actions. After all, what is going extinct anyway? Probably just about a few hundred species of insects. You clearly don’t think anyone is going to miss those insects; you think they’re just pests. You do realize that the disappearance of these insects could have more severe repercussions, like causing birds and lizards to lose sources of food and become extinct. You don’t interact with these animals, so you don’t care about them. Is the environment really your problem? You do recall that the U.S. and other developed countries have apparently been taking action to reduce their levels of pollution in the environment. The poor, developing countries have more unsustainable agricultural practices. Those people should be at fault. Not you.

The primary reason you are indifferent towards the well-being of the environment is that you simply are so disconnected from nature. You have sought to isolate yourself from nature since the beginning of history: you have abandoned hunting and gathering, preferring to build shelters and civilizations to protect yourself. You have even developed advanced agricultural techniques and fertilizers to coax the earth to do your bidding. You only water the earth in order to increase your crop yields. You have no genuine concern for the environment. You wish to control the environment rather than coexist with it.

Even today, you use your phones and technology incessantly, almost never going outside. When you do step outside, your only thought is to go back inside into another building. The outdoors are never your main focus; they are just a path you travel to get to another destination. Even on the rare occasions that you go outside, you play football on artificial turf or tennis on concrete. You step on worms and ants without a thought. You simply “don’t believe in Nature anymore.” And it seems very likely that, regardless of what anyone says or does, you never will believe in Nature.