Human responsibility towards natural world is great indeed. Many people cannot even imagine how significant and integral their actions may be for the nature and its components. Human power does not actually have any boundaries, this is why people should be able to control their actions, ideas, and even thoughts to provide safe present and future.
Many sophisticated authors have already made considerable contributions to our natural world and human participation in its development. Abbey makes a wonderful attempt to explain why people have to take care of the natural environment; LeGuin represents a captivating story of how nature may seek for human support; Dillard shares her ideas about the challenging present we live in; and Huxley describes how crucial the issue of time may be for people and for nature at once.
Humans are integral participants in the development of the natural world; their responsibility cannot be eliminated or neglected as well as the necessity to work, earn money, and promote the progress that influences the nature in many, both negative and positive ways.
For any human being, it is very important to think over his/her own place and role in this world. The ideas of self-consciousness which are so perfectly described by Annie Dillard may have two types of outcomes: on the one hand, it is so amazing to lose oneself for a moment and become as innocent as the nature (Dillard 317); and on the other hand, this possibility opens human eyes to their carelessness on the nature and the power people have.
People activities are dangerous: trees are vanished and uprooted, animals are deprived of their homes and families, and people are satisfied with their abilities to promote their actions and attempts to improve personal life.
Is it possible that human power can positively influence the natural world and its inhabitants? Edward Abbey gives one of the most captivating and profound answers and introduces the ideas of eco-defense that unites human rights and abilities to defend the land and everything that is inherent to this land. It is obligatory to protect the land from destruction and depletion.
This land is human property that is “by whatever means necessary” (Abbey 344), and people should find the abilities to control their power and make it less harmful to the land, nature, and all those who live in this natural world.
There are many important issues which make humans become those who they are: trains that have to be moved, duties that have to be completed, and machines that have to work under any conditions (Huxley 364). Because of such unpleasant fact, people become influenced by the circumstances they create: the conflicts that are developed between important jobs and the integral environment cannot be solved at once. These conflicts make people worry about their positions, their success, and their destinies.
According to Abbey, America is the country those government and people try to protect their natural world and promote those activities which cannot harm the natural world. However, their eco-activities are not enough to provide the world with the necessary protections against other damages people produce. This is why it becomes more important to think about what can be reduced to save the nature instead of what can be done more to improve the situation.
The examples of how human actions may influence the natural world may be observed in the forests of California and the Gulf of Mexico. It is known that the forests of California contain the distinct species only, and the Americans try to take as many necessary steps as possible to save these trees and animals which have a need of these trees. Just remember the story by Ursula LeGuin about the lion that comes to humans to find support.
Because of inability to be protected in their native places, animals try to search for the other places. They cannot realize where it is safer now, and they address people who still do not know what to do and kill them simply because of their poor understanding of the problem (LeGuin 290). Is it true that redwood forests cannot be preserved because of human necessity to pay for living? Unfortunately, it is an awful truth that people have to fight against.
Almost the same happens to the fish in the Gulf River. People forget about animals’ rights and desires to live and use these natural gifts and resources to get some financial benefits. It is hard to believe that people put their financial and commercial needs on the first place and neglect the nature that is so favorable to them. These conflicts are hard to solve, and people cannot comprehend their urgency unless the nature rebels against them and their actions.
In general, the works of the above-mentioned authors help to comprehend that people are so egoistic and vain that they forget about the nature’s gifts. People do not take care of nature that provides them with the necessary living conditions, and these works should help the reader realize that it is high time to think about the natural world and resources which make this life possible.
Even if it is impossible to solve all those problems and conflicts between people and nature, it is still possible to make less harm and teach the other to follow the same way. Only in this case, the natural world and human activities may coexist and cooperate with each other.
Works Cited
Abbey, Edward. “Eco-Defense.” In Missy James and Alan P. Merickel Reading Literature and Writing Argument. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall Professional Technical, 2004, 344-345.
Dillard, Annie. “The Present at Tinker Creek.” In Missy James and Alan P. Merickel Reading Literature and Writing Argument. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall Professional Technical, 2004, 315-352.
Huxley, Aldous. “Time and the Machine.” In Missy James and Alan P. Merickel Reading Literature and Writing Argument. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall Professional Technical, 2004, 364-365.
LeGuin, Ursula, K. “May’s Lion.” In Missy James and Alan P. Merickel Reading Literature and Writing Argument. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall Professional Technical, 2004, 288-293.