What is The Proper Human-Nature Relationship?

The proper human-nature relationship starts by humbling the ignorant human race and breaking the sense of innate superiority we feel over nature. The land was not made for us and nature was not destined to become man's property. However, humans fail to recognize that nature’s purpose for creating plants and animals may possibly be for their happiness, not for the happiness and benefit of humans. We perceive ourselves as superior to the uncivilized and wild land, and hence, mistake our place within nature: “venomous beasts, thorny plants, and deadly diseases of certain parts of the earth prove that the world was not made for him” (Muir).

Additionally, in alignment with Aldo Leopold’s land ethic, humans must abandon the conqueror mindset and reevaluate our place in nature as plain-member citizens of the land-community, where we respect our fellow members and community as such (Leopold). The role of the conqueror will inevitably lead to our demise and self-defeat, as it has shown throughout human history. That being said, I agree with Leopold that the land ethic cannot “prevent the alteration, management, and use of these resources,” proving that human-nature equality and the cultivation of nature’s resources are not mutually exclusive (Leopold). Although one may argue that the alteration of the land questions the intrinsic power and beauty nature possesses, Darwin argues that there is something beautiful about the evolution of nature from so simple a beginning toward the end goal of perfection (Darwin). Therefore, human cultivation and usage of the land do not signify that there was less beauty on Earth before the arrival of humans, but posit that assuming humans are seen as equal members of the land-community, all species are interdependent on one another to evolve and improve through a joint effort. 

Ultimately, humans must follow the golden rule and treat our earth how we want to be treated. Although Stephen Gould approaches this principle from an unequal starting point, where nature “holds all the cards and has immense power over us,” I contend that neither humans nor the land should be romanticized and put on a pedestal (Gould). Gould asserts that humans may virtually be powerless against nature and her geological time scale. Nature has indeed prevailed through mass extinctions and destruction, but human activity is slowly altering the earth in a negative direction. Even though humans have not contributed to damage as astronomical as asteroids or other diseases, we have been responsible for the extinction of certain wildlife species and the destruction of natural habitats, which are all part of nature and the land-community. As a result, through nullifying humans’ sense of supremacy over nature, we must establish an equal relationship with nature to work in tandem and improve as a whole.