All around us we see people wanting to get closer to nature. Supermarket shelves are full of ‘natural’ and ‘green’ products. People want the health giving vibes that good food and a healthy environment can offer. Yet humanity is basically afraid of nature because most people prefer to distance themselves from it and so don’t really understand it. Nature is chaotic, messy and often very cruel. Red in tooth and claw. So people spend more time indoors. Children play outside less because we want to protect them. Car advertisements display rugged vehicles exploring the wilderness where few people who buy such cars ever venture. Paths are well defined in the forest. Scenic views are fenced lest we fall over the edge.

To get the most out of the natural world we have to accept that nature is dangerous, wild and unpredictable. Once we do that then we can truly open up to all the incredible things nature has to offer. We can relax and make better choices about our environment.

I believe humanity is evolving out of the natural world. We are consciously choosing to engage less and less in order to protect ourselves from the vagaries of nature. It actually seems entirely ‘natural’ to me that we would choose this path. I don’t necessarily see this as a bad thing. Even though I do feel a tinge of sadness about such a path for our species, I simply accept that this is the direction we are moving. We will lose much but likely gain a great deal.

Quiet Earth sponsored audio: Sounds of Nature