How Nature is Viewed

On the television show "The Nature of Things" on January 16, 1997, there was a discussion about how nature has been viewed in proprietary terms, rather than for its own sake. In other words, there is too much of an attitude that nature is a commodity to be used and that it is not useful unless it is destroyed. How much progress has there been since then?

There is more awareness of the need for recycling, and this is a positive step forward. However, the materials which are not recycled are still taken to places called "landfill sites", as if the land needs to be filled, rather than appreciated as it is.

There has been terrible destruction of the Oak Ridges Moraine, with governments doing little to stop the so-called construction (actually, destruction), which has threatened Toronto's future clean water supply from the kettle lakes and permanently destroyed much valuable farmland.

Lawn pesticides for cosmetic use have been banned province-wide in Ontario, and this progress. However, golf courses, which take up large areas of land, were excluded from the ban and pesticides are still used on foods which people actually eat.

Thus, although there has been some noteworthy progress - as a result of the hard work of caring naturalists - there remains a lack of right-brain awareness on the part of those who are imprisoned in the goals of money and power. Those in that category still regard nature as a commodity in the same way that they view other people as a commodity, to be used for those goals. This attitude, in turn, stems from viewing themselves as being commodities. That is, they are caught up in the misbelief that they have to impress other people to have any value themselves.