Can Humanity Live in Harmony With Nature?

Although in the past, nature and humans seemed compatible, seen through Native Americans living in harmony with the land and adapting their lifestyle to the land, there came a point at which humans decided to have nature adapt to human needs. A main source of anxiety regarding the environment has been global warming. Greenhouse gas emissions, such as carbon dioxide, methane, and others, cause global warming. People love eating meat, increasing the need for livestock. When livestock, such as cows and pigs, are raised, they release significant amounts of methane into the environment. Rather than cutting back on the demand for livestock, machines are used to produce more livestock to meet the demand. Technology often functions as an aid for human greed by making certain jobs easier. The technology allows for increased production of livestock, expediting the process of global warming. Although in many cases technology harms the environment, the machine does not make the choice, rather it’s who uses the technology. Many companies, concious about the threat of global warming create alternatives to meat in hopes of saving the environment, however these are only band aids to the wound. The machine does not inherently destroy the garden, however, human nature does.

The human mind always wants more – faster transportation, more housing, more food. The greed has caused trends such as mountaintop mining to occur. With the ‘need’ for more minerals, such as coal, iron, and gemstones, companies have resorted to mining mountains. The Indiana Jones scene of the title character attempting to run from a relentlessly chasing boulder is reality for the people, animals, plants, and ecological systems which exist near the mountaintop mining projects. The ‘need’ for more leads to the abuse of nature through the use of technology. Oil drilling, fracking, pollution, deforestation, and many more issues arise as a result of human greed, however, they are only made possible through the use of machines. Currently, how society chooses to use their machines causes machines and nature to be like oil and water. Luckily, movements are created to counter the problems such as Beyond Meat, government regulations on pollution, tree planting organizations, and many more. Once humans think of consequences before their greed, machines and gardens will be able to live in harmony.