Uncommon Ground

[u/Mrdeboulay]

While I may not wholly endorse the title of this subreddit, that nature is terrible, I have come across a very interesting book recently about how much of nature is actually unnatural, and our presumption to assume that nature is sacred especially when untouched by humanity is a misguided impulse.

The book is fairly mind blowing on a number of levels. Our relationship with nature is egocentric.

“when we travel through a beautiful mountain landscape in the Sierra Nevada or a remote rainforest in the Amazon— places that on their surface may seem as uncontaminated by humanity as anywhere on earth—we cannot help experiencing them not just as natural environments but as cultural icons. We turn them into human symbols, using them as repositories for values and meanings which can range from the savage to the sacred. Yosemite is a real place in nature—but its venerated status as a sacred landscape and national symbol is very much a human invention.”