Destruction Of The Environment Essay

For millennia, humans lived in relative harmony with the environment. Our ancestors took what was needed from the earth to maintain basic health and ensure survival. Then, beginning with the agricultural revolution, we learned how to manipulate natural environments to suit human needs. Slowly, that manipulation of the earth grew and people started to leave their imprints on the land.
Now, much of humanity lives in a world of plenty. We have become physically, culturally, and psychologically disconnected from the natural world (Leiserowitz & Fernandez, 2008), yet we still depend heavily upon it. Cultural values and worldviews in developed nations have evolved to place woman and man above everything else. This superiority has led to the destruction of the environment, both locally and globally, with little pause for moral or ethical reflection.
Not only have we separated ourselves from the physical realm, but we have also separated ourselves from each other. Advanced economies favour independence, individualism, and competition over community and cooperation. This is seen through our consumption of goods to maintain a certain status among our peers. We no longer have to display skills to gain prestige; we can simply buy prestige. The products available for consumption, and the materials required to produce them, have permanently altered the

The human tendency to focus on nature as something to manipulate has resulted in a world with very little area without evidence of human influence. We not only separate ourselves from nature, but increasingly, from each other. When we become communities of individuals and compete against one another, our priorities are not on preservation of the environment; our attention is concentrated on the value of currency and how much we can amass. Finally, faith in innovation to solve environmental crises cements the idea that our destructive behaviours can