One "college" essay.  Next time I'll post an essay on education of the hearing impaired child ;)  It's in it's final draft.....grr

A Loss of Reverence

A tree fights for light as it grows little by little until finally one day it towers above everything nearby.  These small glimpses of nature constantly remind humans that there is a force that is self-sustaining and is even bigger than the power we perceive in ourselves.  Yet, in our busy lives running from building to building filled with the newest technology and built with the strongest materials, we often forget that nature is every bit as complex with layers and layers of activities in constant motion, as those tangled cords connecting a dozen computers.  In The Age of Missing Information Bill McKibben encourages us to consider the relationship between nature and technology as he examines the fascinating way the two worlds do, or often don’t, interact.  McKibben is himself of the opinion that the effect of globalization and the spread of technology is negative.  However, he fails to mention the positive effects technology has had on nature.  Nature is a sustainable system of plants, animals, weather, and landscape that operate without human interference, yet is effected daily by human technology and culture taking away from our sense of reverence and connection to a higher power.

What humans label as “nature” is a self-sustaining system that managed to exist even before the interruption of mankind’s culture and modern technology.  Bill McKibben clearly believes that we have forgotten that components of nature “are not there for you—they are there because the world belongs to them too” (pg 84).  Any elementary school teacher would hope that we have not forgotten this as a society.  American children learn about the importance of ecosystems.  However, our knowledge of the amazing balance of life on Earth remains as simplistic as any child’s if we do not feel inspired by the power of nature.  We seem unaware that there are many layers to these ecosystems where they overlap with other systems and compete for resources.  There was a long period of time before we developed the massive amount of technology we have today.  Even without modern technology, the Earth sustained itself.  Man used to feel a sense of reverence for this intricate system.  Yet modern society gets caught up in the power we perceive our species to have and forget there is this massive system that existed long before us.  Yes, we have the power to destroy it, but this does not mean it lacks power itself.  Rather, there is a delicate and magnificent balance that the Earth has always been able to find and maintain.  Species die out and new ones are created.  That itself is part of the balance that the Earth naturally maintains when humans allow it to do so. 

Humans exert their influence over nature using technology in ways that negatively interfere with the natural world.  In “Technology versus Nature: What is Natural?” Rolston Holmes III said, “Nature now widely bears the marks of human influence.”  He’s not simply referring to trees we’ve planted or a little grass some kids trampled while they were playing a game.  Holmes is referring to trees that are cut down to make paper and sections of forests and fields that are cleared to make room for new buildings.  Bill McKibben sees the negative influence of technology and pop culture have had on nature.  Even before the iPod or widespread use of Discmans, McKibben knew that modern “technologies have removed from most of us in the Western world any need to spend time in contact with the physical, and hence erased much of the chance to experience the divine in its grandest manifestations”  (pg 97).  He was right that new technologies have given humans excitement separate from the natural world, but he missed the ways other technologies have aided components of nature.

Yet, there are people who do care about the environment and do take the time to use technology in ways that help nature.  Scientist monitor endangered animals to learn the best way to help them.  At the Land Institute in Salina, Kansas they are trying to look for ways to preserve the ecosystems while producing enough food to sustain all the people on Earth.  As a species, we have learned how to create new species of plants, nurse wounded animals back to health, and even grow plants without any soil through hydroponics.  Technology has impacted nature in very powerful ways, not all of which are bad.  As we look towards the future the challenge is to find the balance between technology and nature.  We may discover how they compliment each other rather than focusing on how separate the two worlds can be.

As humans, we often perceive ourselves as having an innate power over nature that makes us lose the sense of reverence that is so vital in order to truly appreciate and care for the earth.  We step on an ant and it dies.  We plant a seed and it grows.  We see ourselves as able to alter nature, but in order to bring back a sense of reverence for the power of nature we must look beyond these examples and see the areas where we don’t have any power.  Humans have yet to control the weather or even really protect against natural disasters.  Two very recent examples that humble us as a species and remind us of the power nature truly holds are the tsunami and Hurricane Katrina.  However, these are just the most publicized examples of nature’s power.  Nature exerts its power just as much each time a baby animal is born or a flower blooms.  These are complicated miracles that we too often take for granted.  If we take a moment to observe the power that nature holds, we regain a sense of respect that can connect us to a higher power. 

Nature is a sustainable system that has been forced to interact with mankind.  While human interference can be good or bad, nature will still have a power that we may never fully understand.   When in the presence of nature, it is easy to feel connected with something larger than what you see on the surface of life.  Bill McKibben asserts in his book, The Age of Missing Information, that “We also live at a moment of deep ignorance, when vital knowledge that humans have always possessed about who we are and where we live seems beyond our reach.”  Is this vital knowledge that connects us to nature truly missing, or do we simply forget to look for it?  It is not beyond our reach. We simply have to remember to be humbled and revive that sense of reverence for the world around us.