are we part of nature?
The short answer for me is HECK NO! We may have this romantic illusion that we are part of nature, but in reality we are playing God. We are busy ants trying to control and change nature at every chance we get. The very purpose of advanced physics is to unlock the 'secrets of the universe'. To what end? What comes after discovery and understanding of these secrets? We will unleash whatever new powers we discover for our own benefit, may it be atomic power, bombs or what have you.
Stewart Brand said it best in his two seminal works: in the 1960's with his Whole Earth Catalog he stated: we are like gods, and we need to get good at it' and in his 2003????? book 'Eco Discipline' he stated: 'we are gods'.
As an engineering student at the University of Wyoming, I had to look at the inscription on top of the engineering building that state: 'the control of nature is not given, it is won... strive on'. 35 years later that inscription got me an invitation to work as an intern at EPEA in Hamburg with the world's renowned green chemist, Dr. Michael Braungart and helped redesign and re-shape my whole life's path along the 'Cradle-to-Cradle' TM concepts. I had stated to Michael that my entire life is being devoted to undo that U of Wyo inscription. That our illusion of controlling nature is SO misplaced.
Dr. Braungart presentations was a review of humanities' engineering disasters and how they disenfranchised an entire generation of young, bright brains away from engineering. Because the very basis of engineering schools was to teach students how to control and dominate nature.
And here we are with COVID19. Nature's revenge. Since we can't seem to get it into our thick left brained skulls that controlling nature is a fool's game, and we are destroying the very home we live in, and since we REALLY ARE part of nature, this COVID19 is nature's way of reminding us. Can't we back off a bit on our god-like tendencies and work with nature?
that's why I embraced permaculture a long time ago - it's the only real systematic answer we have - to emulate nature. Of all the human invented systems out there, permaculture is most widely known, accepted and practiced by enlightened people all over the world. All native peoples practice permaculture - and they didn't have to read or study it - only observation and emulation are needed.
Just look at our cumulative reactions to rising sea levels: let's build more seawalls...
Stewart Brand said it best in his two seminal works: in the 1960's with his Whole Earth Catalog he stated: we are like gods, and we need to get good at it' and in his 2003????? book 'Eco Discipline' he stated: 'we are gods'.
As an engineering student at the University of Wyoming, I had to look at the inscription on top of the engineering building that state: 'the control of nature is not given, it is won... strive on'. 35 years later that inscription got me an invitation to work as an intern at EPEA in Hamburg with the world's renowned green chemist, Dr. Michael Braungart and helped redesign and re-shape my whole life's path along the 'Cradle-to-Cradle' TM concepts. I had stated to Michael that my entire life is being devoted to undo that U of Wyo inscription. That our illusion of controlling nature is SO misplaced.
Dr. Braungart presentations was a review of humanities' engineering disasters and how they disenfranchised an entire generation of young, bright brains away from engineering. Because the very basis of engineering schools was to teach students how to control and dominate nature.
And here we are with COVID19. Nature's revenge. Since we can't seem to get it into our thick left brained skulls that controlling nature is a fool's game, and we are destroying the very home we live in, and since we REALLY ARE part of nature, this COVID19 is nature's way of reminding us. Can't we back off a bit on our god-like tendencies and work with nature?
that's why I embraced permaculture a long time ago - it's the only real systematic answer we have - to emulate nature. Of all the human invented systems out there, permaculture is most widely known, accepted and practiced by enlightened people all over the world. All native peoples practice permaculture - and they didn't have to read or study it - only observation and emulation are needed.
Just look at our cumulative reactions to rising sea levels: let's build more seawalls...
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