Nature Connection: Strengthening Our Connections To Nature

There’s nothing like a new year to get us all excited about new ways to improve ourselves, our connections to family and friends and our homes and jobs. We feel renewed, ready to roll up our sleeves and get rocking and rolling. OK, maybe just walking and doing a little yoga.

Those of us who are in tune with the natural world are worried about what this new administration promises to do in terms of lifting environmental regulations. This is not an unfounded fear, for the promises have been loud and clear. Not only will there be rollbacks on producing clean energy and transportation that isn’t reliant on fossil fuels that are causing climate change, but “drill, baby, drill!” is an actual quote from our soon-to-be president.

Nature has always taken a back seat to so-called progress. Habitats have been routinely destroyed to build homes, villages, towns and cities. Energy harvesting, whether mining, drilling or fracking, has stripped areas of other natural resources and dirtied our air and water, killing wildlife and sickening many humans as well.

We shouldn’t be surprised that now people want even more of everything and let “nature be damned.” Nature always adjusts, they say. Nature will outlive us, they say. And in many ways, they’re right. Nature does adjust and she will probably outlive us, even if we obliterate ourselves.

This doesn’t mean that nature will exist the way she does now or the way she did a hundred years ago. She’ll be like that little old lady you see on the walker dragging her oxygen tank behind her as she wobbles down the street. She’ll still be alive, but she’ll be incredibly compromised.

As we look at our fresh, clean calendars not yet full of scribbles and obligations, perhaps we could add taking care of nature to our to-do list. None of us can solve all the problems but we can all do small things that add up to big things.

We can stop using poisons and fertilizers, for one thing. We can fire landscapers that insist on using leaf blowers and planting invasive flowers and shrubs. We can look into ways we can switch to clean energy or at least ways to save energy in our homes and vehicles. 

Plastic is not only a major cause of pollution and waste, but the manufacture of plastic uses fossil fuels and destroys clean water, air, and earth in the areas where it is made. Buying fewer plastic items will send a message to manufacturers that we want more sustainable materials in packaging and also in our clothing, home goods, building supplies and toys. 

Locally there are businesses that allow you to bring containers to fill with soaps and detergents instead of buying new ones in plastic bottles. Think about switching to dissolvable soap sheets for your laundry, which work great and create no plastic container waste. 

There are many alternatives to plastic lunch containers, storage bins, toothbrushes, disposable razors, single-use plastic dishware and utensils and cleaning products. The more you look into living more sustainably, the more you will find.

Food production is another area to consider. If you are a regular meat eater perhaps you can consider going meatless one day a week. Not only will this help in terms of environmental pollution, it will mean fewer animals will be raised for slaughter.

Being a conscious eater means we have respect for the food we are eating as well as its source. When buying out-of-season produce, remember that it is flown here daily after being picked by people who often earn less than a living wage. Most produce is now labeled with the country of origin. Also, be aware that many pesticides forbidden in the U.S. are still manufactured and sold to other countries where they are used in agriculture, especially those countries south of our border. This means that those poisons are entering their environs and all our bodies, something to think about before taking a bite of that juicy fruit.

We humans have done an amazing job surviving. We live long lives, take up a lot of room and use a lot of resources. We multiply quickly, and unlike many species, our young tend to survive thanks to modern medicine. Other species are in decline due to habitat degradation and destruction, but we are thriving. Nature throws diseases at us and we find ways to stop them. She sends us weather events that should cripple us, but we come up with ways to not only survive them but to prevent long-term damage by better building practices and workarounds.

In return, what do we do? We pollute, we strip mine, we dare the elements with our technology and our arrogance. 

Balance is always a temporary, ethereal thing but we are so far out of balance that we need to adjust our thinking before we topple ourselves. We aren’t impervious to the dangers of our own making. We are also quickly outstripping our own collective knowledge as technology seeps into every element of daily life.

Instead of rejoicing in our abundance, we try to keep others from sharing it. Instead of being good stewards of the land, we abuse it. Instead of allowing our children to run and play free without fear, we teach them to hide from gun-toting maniacs in classrooms and then how to load and shoot a gun in the name of safety. We have lost our minds.

This year, let’s try to regain our sanity as a society. We can begin by honoring and respecting each other but also nature. Without her we have no water to drink and no air to breathe. We need to be more mindful of the land we walk on, live on and use to grow and build things. Take a deep breath and choose one small thing to change today. Our future depends on it.