Adam Baker: Outside Article--Relationships with the Environment

One of the sources I used for my research paper, “The Psychology of Environmentalism Healing Self and Nature,” authored by J. Donald Hughes, discusses the idea of humans being in a “vast, powerful interrelationship” with all of nature—relying upon it, as opposed to being separate from it. This is an interesting perspective of our place on earth, and reinforces the idea of a mutual exchange between a place and its visitors as presented by the phenomenological approach to understanding sacred place. Putting things into perspective, we are members of the natural community as much as the plants and animals inhabiting the landscape. Based on our level of environmental destruction and exploitation, and seemingly low regard for preservation, why do we feel we are superior to our natural surroundings? Interestingly enough, I believe we can learn from the give-and-take landscape around us, and realize that living beyond our means or being self-centered is far more disruptive of natural stabilization than probably healthy in the long run.