Remember that humans are part of nature
image by wondermash, all rights reserved
Going for a nice walk 'in nature', enjoying 'nature', going 'back to your nature'. Listening to how we refer to nature, it may seem as if nature is something that takes place outside of us. Something we can go to and leave again. However, nature is within us. As a human-animal living in your village ecosystem you are very much a part of nature, we have simply forgotten it. With dire consequences.
Much of our nature policies aimed at protecting nature against the harmful consequences of human actions. Rainforests that are being cut down, animal species that are going extinct, air that is polluted, climate change and plastic soup: nature seems to be a willless victim in the hands of humans.
But let us explore what exactly is at stake here? We talk about nature as if it is something that we can build a wall around and keep safe. But rather nature is the foundation under our own species’ survival.
image by wondermash, all rights reserved
Where would we be without a strong, balanced nature? Where does our food come from? Right, from plants or animals. Cows, pigs and improved crops are animals, and therefore very much part of nature, as are the bees that fertilize the crops. Yet we often make a distinction between 'real nature', where people envision an unspoilt landscape with hopping deer, high trees and at most a sandy path here and there, and 'not nature' on the other side with things such as farmland, humans, city pigeons, garden pests, pets and blades of grass on the sidewalk.
But is there any real basis for not calling the blade of grass that bursts between the asphalt nature? Can't you classify the city as an ecosystem, just like a rainforest or a savanna is?
Thus, what man makes is no more artificial than a bird's nest or an ant's mound. Which doesn't mean it can't be harmful to other species, but that's another (although very important) story.
Just stressing the obvious that claiming humans as part of nature is not an argument for building 'urban ecosystems' everywhere and foregoing nature reserves such as rainforests, mangroves and forests. In fact, the diversity of ecosystems and associated living species is precisely the basis of life as we know it. See the example that we cannot eat without bees and their role in the fertilization of agricultural crops.
image by wondermash, all rights reserved
Researchers Johan Rockström and Pavan Sukhdev of the Stockholm Resilience Center place nature (biosphere) in the foundation of everything that is of value to us. They visualize this in the so-called 'wedding cake' model with the biosphere as the bottom layer: the bottom of the cake, so to speak.
In the second layer comes society and the third layer the economy. Policy should therefore give priority to nature policy, not to protect nature, but ourselves, as top specialists in the vulnerable earth system. A system that, if it were to fall apart, would find a new equilibrium, but probably without the species Homo sapiens.
This makes maintaining a strong nature base an essential condition that makes our existence possible. If it goes well with nature, then it goes well with us (and our economy). It's not something we should pay attention to until we're doing well. That's a short-term solution, self-destructive to our species and totally unsustainable.