The Interactive Relationships Among Living Beings And Their Environment Essay

In a society such as the one we live in, nature has become drown out by aspects more parallel to our lives. Humans no longer value nature as much as we should. Nature has been imprudently shoved to the back of our minds, and false pretenses have been created allowing us to think it is possible to ignore the forces of nature in our lives. Humanity is in great conflict with nature, and consequently, our lives are negatively impacted. To resolve this conflict, humans must realise that nature is always present.

The audience of this book is presumed to be the general person who is not fully intact with the ideas that he or she is disrupting the ecosystem and is not aware of the effects they are doing as a whole. The book argues that no ecosystem is completely inert as things such as climate changes or drought can also affect the enviorment. Without human interaction an environment can still have issues, but the introduction of human life and economy does take a grave toll on the climate. These are irreversible effects that mankind are doing to the ecosystem. The English

Environmental history explores a variety of topics in order to connect nature to humans. In doing so, a new history emerges. As this history unveils itself, it becomes evident that throughout time, humans have taken it upon themselves to improve the nonhuman world for their own gains. Numerous scholars have contemplated this idea, and while they do not all agree on the meaning or the means of improvement upon the land, it remains a constant theme. By exploring the theme of improvement to land, a clear path forms. The idea of improvement in environmental history creates artificial agency for humans, as well as revealing that improvement cannot happen without having an adverse effect on humans.

Even though we separated ourselves from nature in the attempt to salvage some beauty in the world we still “began to alter places where we were not,” through by-products of our industrialized society. (Mckibben XX) Mckibben says “it is also true that we are apart of nature” (Mckibben XXI) while Cronon wants us to see that “wilderness is more a state of mind than a fact of nature.” (Cronon 493) While Cronon wants humans to separate themselves from the wild, Mckibben asks us to confront nature head on. We are apart of it and“we possess the possibility of self-restraint” so we still have the means to stop abusing the natural order. In order to do this “we would need to change the ways we move ourselves around, the spaces we live in, the jobs we perform.” (Mckibben XXII) We can start by thinking of practical ways to affect the environment positively, starting in the

Nature is a beautiful location where animals and plants live in unison, being untouched by humans. The human population, however has the ability to take and abuse nature.

Val Plumwood in her essay “Paths Beyond Human-Centeredness,” illustrates the impact that humans have on nature and non-animals when it comes to preserving environments. Understanding that nature has it’s living properties that let it thrive among its resources allows for people to grasp the complexities that come about when construction companies destroy the environment in which they work. Plumwood uses the term dualism to refer to the sharp distinction between two classes of individuals. There is the high class, which is considered as the “One.” In contrast, the other side of the division consists of individuals that are classified as lower and are subordinates to the “One” as “Others.” This account on dualism allows the reader to understand how humans can significantly alter the environment because of the way they perceive its resources and inhabitants. Plumwood defines five characteristics that illustrate the oppressive actions that change the connection between human relations and the relationship between humans and nature.

Human beings sometimes fail to understand the important role that the environment plays in ensuring our survival and well-being because they have little knowledge about the environment, which makes them have less concern about it. The concept of deep ecology, which refers to a more

In this text, Cronon analyzes the concept of nature in today’s society. Cronon begins by discussing his bird's-eye view (from a Boeing 727) of the wildfires that were raging in Southern California in 1993. The author explains that he was on his way to a residential seminar at UC Irvine. One of the goals of this seminar was to explore contemporary environmental problems from an interdisciplinary perspective. The concept of nature and the environment is discussed in the text and popular ideas involving these terms are challenged; specifically the idea of nature as something that is pure and stable. Cronon goes on to suggest that the way we view nature is connected to our values, and our conflicting assumptions of nature can be detrimental to

The environment is the domiciliary created as a gift by mother nature, to give us a place to work, grow, play, and live. However these days, our beloved environment is being polluted, rigorously. We humans and other living creatures depend upon the environment and our natural surroundings. It gives us all the essentials for survival, such as oxygen/fresh air, food, shelter, and water. It is always there for us, whether we need a peaceful, serene escape from our fast-paced cities, or when we’re feeling a little adventurous, and just need a chance to explore. The environment has made beauty accessible to us, right out our front door. Mountains, caves, beautiful landscapes, and idiosyncratic animal species, are all “Yours to Discover.” Yet,

Looking around at trees, flowers and the grass, I realized that despite my town being a metropolitan city, it had done a commendable effort to make sure that it conserved the environment. I also admired how people were conscious about the environment as they threw all litter in the various litter bins that were placed along the roads. However, I realized that nature was commodified because of the various things made of wood that I came across. The benches in the park, the electrical posts and people’s fences made me feel certain about the commodification of the environment by mankind. Human beings depend on nature in all their doings, the air we breathe, the houses we live in and our furniture come from the environment around us. The environment I observed was revered, though not optimally, through the care and conservation of the grass, trees and other things by the town’s administration and people living here. However, I observe some attempts by human being to control and dominate nature throughout his daily activities, some control was positive and others negative. For instance, I how there were trees and other plants some few miles from the town and it came to my mind that the town was once covered with the same vegetation but now there is barely any form of nature i.e. trees and grass. I also observed how factories released of heavy smoke from factory and

Human actions do not disturb the pristineness of nature but add into the pristineness by enhancing nature. Artificial structures, such as the landfills and flood control gates aid in protection of property, but cause destruction of certain animal habitats. However, artificial structures in the Bay Area have an ecotonal relationship with nature. Building the floodgates sacrifice the habitat in place of the floodgate, but in the long term, protects more habitats. In “The Ecotone” by James Clifford, Clifford shows the university has a symbiotic relationship with nature. In “Man, the Dominant Animal” by RatCliffe, RatCliffe introduces how human actions go through a cycle of aiding and destroying peregrine life. Landfills help reduce the contamination of toxic chemicals with nature. Floodgates protect buildings against nature’s floods, which create millions of dollars in damage of trees and animal habitat. In the Bay Area, cities, such as Milpitas debate if a floodgate is more beneficial or damaging, and San Francisco debated how to remove the contamination from the rust of old war ships. In my interview with MetCalfe, MetCalfe claims that human machines help nature dispose of waste through the use of anaerobic digesters.

Nature as w e know it means different things to different people. To an economist, natural is often seen as a resource to be transformed and put in readiness for human use. An alternative view is that humans are stewards who should care for natural things as well as making use of nature’s bounty. Another view is that nature of animism, which sees nature as a living thing, something to be respected and not controlled. Some native American’s view the earth as a sacred place could be called animist. Another alternative view is that the entire planet earth is a self correcting system based on a symbiotic relationship between the earth and the living beings(Peacock,

Environmental issues have been a cause of a lot of debate in the recent past. Governments and nongovernmental organizations have been in constant consultations on how to help protect the environment. Apparently, as a result of man’s many actions, the natural environment is getting torn apart so quickly that the coming generations will not enjoy this kind of environment, unless a

There are a lot of problems that occur in the biophysical environment. These problems differ from pollution, to dumping in the rivers, lakes, and oceans, to destroying Mother Nature’s finest things to support our wants. These problems seem to always involve us in some type of way. We as human beings have lived on this earth for thousands of years. To say that we haven’t made impact on this planet would be such an understatement. I think that we are one of the causes for the environment being the way it is because after reading the several books in the class, every problem that occurs in the book seem to always revolve around us. I’m not here to blame humans for the poor environment but we have to accept a fair cut of the blame because we tend to act without thinking of the consequences. Our actions have caused many species to become extinct. We destroy their homes and sources of food and the species slowly die out.

Found within various articles and books, the discipline of environmental history permeates the study of nature and humans. By combining a multitude of studies and methodologies, authors explore the aspects of the environment and nature along with human interaction to understand how they commingle, affecting one another. In the following four books and one article, scholars from varying backgrounds approach environmental history in an assortment of methods in order to prove their thesis. Their methodologies shape their thought process and lead to the structure of these books. Further investigation into this process reveals the authors’ intentions, enabling readers to understand how methodology fuels the writing process, creating an argument, and producing valuable work.