Live and Let Live

June 18, 2009 by David Eggleton

I once read that "civilization consists in frustrating nature."  That means they coexist; the former requires the latter.  For civilization to be sustainable, nature must be frustrated in various ways, including new ones, but not ever eliminated.
 
Powerful beyond their understanding and effective beyond their horizons, humans are eliminating nature everywhere, faster and faster, as if to make a substitute life support system (aka THE ECONOMY).  It's a dead end at a big nothing.  We must pull back from that activity, probably by choices and commitments made one by one.  We must regulate our powers with our understandings while keeping our effects on our side of the horizon.  It's a way that leads on to ways (thanks Robert Frost!).  It's a different sort of accountability. 
 
We must let nature be... merely frustrated.