Nash

In Roderick Nash’s “Island Civilization: A vision for human occupancy of Earth,” he discusses his thoughts and concerns of our precious planet Earth.  Individuals like Roderick Nash are a positive addition to our society and are the ones we should be thanking.   Nash believes in Island Civilization and tries to promote the importance of our actions and what we can do to make sure we are being positive additions to society as well.  It is already difficult enough to try to have our current population realize this, and it just continues to become more difficult as our population continues to grow.

“One way to look at the opportunity and the responsibility we have with regard to the environment is in terms of legacy.”  This statement made me realize that people in today’s society really are responsible for what has yet to occur.  Many individuals tend to spend a lot of time worrying about what is currently happening in the present, and not so much what has happened in the past nor what will happen in the future.  Our current actions greatly affect the future of our planet as well as the individuals in future generations.

I believe we need to “fulfill our evolutionary potential without compromising or eliminating the opportunity of other species doing the same.”  Currently, we need to be realizing that the wilderness and civilization are both equal; one is not more important than this other.  As time has gone on, we have “began to draw mental lines between ourselves and nature.”  In today’s society, it is hard to pair humans with uncontrolled nature.  Humans now live in civilized areas, and instead of hunting and gathering, we now bet our survival on farming.  I do believe that this was the start of our society’s downfall and it has only continued to worsen.

Once the Civil Rights Movement occurred, Humans began realizing what was happening to the environment and began to preserve Earth.  If this had not occurred, I am not sure where we would be today... if we would even be here at all.  I realize that I am blessed to be a part of society today, and I feel that it is important for individuals to read articles such as this, to help them come to a realization that there are changes that need to be made.

I feel that it is our duty as citizens to do all that we can now, to make sure that there is life on Earth in the next millennium.  “We don’t often think in the wider angles that encompass our species as a whole, but now is an excellent time to begin.”  In this statement, Nash is reminding us that it is not too late to make changes.  We do have control over the future condition of our planet as well as the future generations to come.