week two

As much as I enjoy the natural world, as much as I love, appreciate and WANT it, I am constantly trying to be convinced that it is easily replaced. Society could probably create an artificial world that satisfies my needs, but something would still be missing, and I think it’s a feeling every human is born with. Generations from now that live in a concrete jungle will still have a desire for green trees and blue skies. There is an innocence or a purity about the natural world that can’t be re-created. We are bombarded by an urge to preserve, a feeling of desperation to change habits in response to how the rest of society treats the natural world. We take advantage of what we have but to constantly feel bad about yourself for the role you play, and how you unintentionally affect the natural world, isn’t helping fix the problem. Stop sulking and talking, and to incorporate the article from last week, stop wasting energy in Hope, and actually “make moves”, because we do need the natural world. We can be convinced that we can always be artificially satisfied, but that’s not a world I want to be a part of.

This picture is of my dog, Indiana, playing in a field of dandelions. A luxury we take for granted.

Netherlands, Springer. "A Divine Intimation: Appreciating Natural Beauty" Journal of Value Inquiry. March 1997. Pgs. 77-95