Nowadays, most of us live in urban, concrete, man made habitats, which are hard, rigid and for the most part devoid of nature.
Most suburbs contain many concrete paths, brick buildings and limited trees and wildness
And this is unfortunate because many of us spend a lot of time in these natureless, unnatural landscapes.
Now imagine this same spot just 500 years ago, unless you reside in Europe, chances are, that this city or townscape may not have been there!
But we all need access to open space and plenty of room for woodlands, forests, plant life, animals and all forms for nature and life to be.
Because when the ecosystem outside your window thrives, we all thrive.
Viewed from space, human efforts resemble dark scars and gouges across the land.
Most mines can be seen from space, and the light pollution is mindblowing
It’s a science fiction movie and the Earth has been invaded by us.
More than half of the worlds population now lives in concentrated cities and urban areas.
We no longer live with nature in the villages and countryside that we used to. And many of us are more connected and with our computers and technology than we are with the natural world outside, how we have evolved for thousands, and thousands of years.
I wonder, how will the human species react to this disconnection from nature?
Is it even good for us? I know that i feel better when I’m walking on a trail through the woods, instead of traveling in a car 60 miles an hour down the freeway.
The former feels so much more natural, I feel more connected to my surroundings.
One thing is for sure, things like stress and hypertension and other chronic illnesses are much more prominent in heavily concentrated urban areas.
Tension is plentiful, and road rage is everywhere it seems.
Before we started living in concentrated man-made environments, we lived and evolved intimately alongside nature.
We were more wild and free, and unhindered by the pressures of modern life.
Now, we are cutting ourselves off from nature, but alll our needs come from nature, foods, fertile soils, clean water and minerals.
In a sense by isolating ourselves, with the exception of pets and house-plants, we’re essentially isolating ourselves from the natural world and more and more it’s becoming separate from us, and alien to us.
It seems that we’ve lost touch with nature. There’s even a term that was coined (nature deficit disorder).
They’ve even done studies looking at children who spend time in nature vs children who spend more time indoors, and the children who play more in nature naturally have stronger, more resilient immune systems, and are more happy and healthy overall.
Plus, this is where some of the best life lessons can be learned.
We’re becoming increasingly disconnected from the world around us, and this can be problematic because this is how we evolved since the beginning of our species.
The positioning of buildings including your home, and the design of our entire man-made habitats centers around easy transportation with roads being literally everywhere and dominating and bulldozing through entire landscapes.
It’s a car dominated culture, and nature is usually an afterthought.
Just going for a walk or a bike ride you have to fear for your life, from getting struck by a car, “I know that this is true for me”.
But nature exists in total harmony with itself. An ecosystem adjusts until it finds balance and harmony where all animals, plants and microorganisms and bacteria can coexist.
Humans are also connected to this delicate web of life, but it’s clear that we’ve lost our way.
But in our cities and urban areas, humans are the start and end of the ecosystem. Just look at a new housing complex, before laying the foundation, we bulldoze and completely wipe out and decimate the landscape and all other life forms that evolved there for millenia.
This is done without no regard for any other life.
But, separating ourselves from the harmonious pattern of nature and immersing ourselves in the stressful polluted and sterile environments, prevents us from really replenishing and recharging our vital energies that are responsible for keeping us happy and healthy.
Never underestimate how important it is to spend time in nature and to be immersed in natural environments. By doing so, this will help us detox from the everyday stress of mass population and over-developed urban areas.
Kick off your shoes and walk barefoot. Touch the earth, and commune with the natural world and all her beasts.
Remember that you are nature and nature is you.