Relating to nature

We have become so successful at controlling nature that we have lost our connection to it. It is all too easy to regard the earth as a collection of 'resources' having an intrinsic value no larger than their Humanity exists only in the future. It may well be, that to be truly human has to mean to be a participant in the making of Humanity. Our evolution has taken us away from the natural order. Many strongly feel that this makes us 'less advanced' and not more, so much so that we are now a threat to all other forms of life. Others regard this as only a stepping stone along a dramatic and uncertain path towards a higher state, in which we and all life will come together in a new symbiosis; and then reach for communion with other intelligent life throughout the galaxy.

Improving socio-economic conditions will make a world of progress viable only if it is reconciled with nature. The fact is that peace and development today must also be seen in terms of the interactions, in space and time, between human beings and their environment as well as in terms of intergenerational relations. This means responding fully to present needs while making sure that we do not bequeath to future generations an increasingly less viable world. States must now endeavour to reconcile economic and social growth with the long-term preservation of the natural resources on which their development depends. The battle for the environment cannot be won unless it is based on a new ethic of the relationship of human beings with nature, entailing rights, duties and solidarity.

Nature abhors people.