Reflection Paper On The Environment

As my first year quickly comes to an end, I am left to reflect upon the information that I have learned. I have added numerous works of literature and equations to my cognitive collection where they will they stay for years to come. Some of the information, however, I am not able to simply store away to for later use because of the importance that it holds in my current life. I have always been a person who is concerned and ever aware of the hazards that currently afflict our environment and I thought I understood direction that mankind must take to rid of them. As I reflect over the information that I have learned over this semester, I realize that the problem is not how our society currently interact with nature, it is how our society has

Human 's trend towards today 's relationship with nature has been in the making since they began evolving. Descendents of human began their life just as every other species just as nature intended. These descendents, similar to other primates, began their lives located in Africa as tree dwelling animals and were in the middle of the food chain with numerous threats and predators in their surrounding environment. Within a short period, however, these early humans would change the way they live forever due to the effects of evolution. As evolution began to take place, these early forms of humans would shift away from their tree dwelling nature and would begin to walk on two legs, also known as bipedalism. Humans gained this upright nature in order to allow them to look over the African savannah in order to spot predators. This new form of movement not only allowed humans to use their new environment more effectively, but discover new ones entirely. These early forms of humans became nomads and began seeking to areas to dwell in. During this time the individual groups began to evolve further and

Genesis is known to be split up into two sections that both give different interpretations on humanity 's relationship with nature. The first part of this story is known as the P story or the priestly story. This story discusses the concept of humanity 's dominion over nature with God commanding humans to "be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth"(Hebrew Bible 78). This concept of dominion has humanity ruling over all other creatures in order to master them. This religious idea would go on to be a large force behind the creation of the Great Chain of Being which is a divine hierarchy that places humans on a scale above nature but below heavenly forces. This religious idea of dominion goes on to have a large impact on the way people view nature due to the divine origin of this commandment. Human not only have the desire to conquer nature, but have an obligation to do so. The second part of this story, also known as the J story or Yahweh story, humans are given stewardship over nature. This stewardship, specifically shown by Adam and Eve, is to rule the land but also make sure that it is protected and able to find success as well. This position creates a much healthier relationship between humans and nature and is very