Relating to nature

We have become so successful at controlling nature that we have lost our connection to it. It is all too easy to regard the earth as a collection of 'resources' having an intrinsic value no larger than their Humanity exists only in the future. It may well be, that to be truly human has to mean to be a participant in the making of Humanity. Our evolution has taken us away from the natural order. Many strongly feel that this makes us 'less advanced' and not more, so much so that we are now a threat to all other forms of life. Others regard this as only a stepping stone along a dramatic and uncertain path towards a higher state, in which we and all life will come together in a new symbiosis; and then reach for communion with other intelligent life throughout the galaxy.

1. Improving socio-economic conditions will make a world of progress viable only if it is reconciled with nature. The fact is that peace and development today must also be seen in terms of the interactions, in space and time, between human beings and their environment as well as in terms of intergenerational relations. This means responding fully to present needs while making sure that we do not bequeath to future generations an increasingly less viable world. States must now endeavour to reconcile economic and social growth with the long-term preservation of the natural resources on which their development depends. The battle for the environment cannot be won unless it is based on a new ethic of the relationship of human beings with nature, entailing rights, duties and solidarity.

2. If we are to make peace with nature, ecology needs to be transformed by the knowledge of feminism. Ecology as a science needs feminism to balance a myopic, mechanical world-view which has fundamentally influenced scientific development. Ecology as a life science needs feminism to reveal how patriarchal thinking contributes to environmental destruction. Ecology as a practice needs feminism to ensure that shallow ecology is transformed into a deep ecological perspective. Feminism is helpful because the multiplicity of differences within feminism offers new ways of experiencing and understanding the world.

1. Nature abhors people.

1. Sustaining primal communities
2. Relationship
3. Recognizing
4. Promoting wellness
5. Deepening concept of love
6. Associating-Disassociating

1. Relating to plants
2. Relating to place
3. Relating to animals
4. Preserving contact with nature
5. Idealizing nature
6. Ensuring realistic assessment of the recuperative power of nature
7. Cooperating with nature
8. Connecting people to natural rhythms
9. Communicating with animals
10. Combining art and nature
11. Communicating with nature

1. Protecting global environment
2. Living with nature
3. Developing cautious environmental policy
4. Accelerating children's learning modes

1. Transmitting traditional native wisdom
2. Spiritualizing nature
3. Recognizing intrinsic value
4. Educating for environmental identity
5. Applying environmental ethics
6. Advancing ecotourism

1. Subduing the Earth
2. Killing nature

1. Estranging nature

1. Relating symbols to human experience
2. Loving unconditionally
3. Loving abundance
4. Creating community rituals

1. Inevitable destruction of humanity by the natural environment
2. Fear of nature
3. Disregard for intrinsic value of nature
4. Decline of human relationship to nature

1. Value
2. Unnaturalness
3. Unloving
4. Peace
5. Inhumanity
6. Humanity

1. Reconnect with Nature
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4. EcopsychologyWeb
5. Connecting With Nature
6. HumaNature Connect
7. Connecting with Nature
8. Why We Must Reconnect With Nature