Human Beings Are Part of the Animal Kingdom, and Therefore Part of Nature. If That Is True, Then Everything They Create or Destroy Is by Default Natural

Anahita Chahal | Student ID - 0984183

M.S in Global Fashion Enterprise | Jefferson University

SDN 601-2 | Principles and Methodologies for Sustainable Design

Human beings are part of the animal kingdom, and therefore part of nature. If that is true, then everything they create or destroy is by default "natural"

I disagree with this statement, everything they create or destroy is not natural.

  Human beings are considered as apex predators, which also means they are on top of the food chain with no natural predators. We humans are products or nature but that does not mean the things we create are natural. They are made of man-made materials. Humans are the only living beings that have intelligence. We are part of nature but because of intelligence we have evolved whereas animals only follow the food chain. To create more things, we are altering the nature by optimizing the resources because of the human greed to want more. Also because there is no one on top of the food chain we feel we own the world, this human greed has taken toll on the earth’s limited resources.

  For example, human brain is natural but the computerized devices we create are not natural. The cars release pollution which is harmful for the environment as it is changing the global climate and creating global warming. This is altering the earth’s climate, there are floods and droughts in many areas. The Greenland and arctic sheets are decreasing in mass. An average of 281 billion tons of ice per year between 1993 to 2016 has been lost. The sea level has risen to 8 inches on the last century. It has nearly doubled in the last century. All these vital signs of the planet have been caused because of the pollution created by human designed technology. (Rasmussen, 2018)

 The world natural would mean nothing if we categorize everything as natural. Things like trees, air and soil which come from natural circumstances should come under that category. Humans are the only species that create artificial realities. For example, we construct dams and artificial lakes but that does not mean it is considered natural. The materials used to construct a dam are artificial or man-made materials.  

   The natural phenomena are landslides and tree falling not cutting trees to construct a concrete jungle. There are a lot of negative effects of that on the eco system. Due to deforestation the greenery has reduced which causes less rain, therefore the draughts. The crops need rain and because of less rain the farmers use more fertilizers which is not a natural ingredient. The human greed has made us make everything is bulk quantity. Growing crops with fertilizers is not a natural phenomenon which will cause problems for the future generations. The restaurants these days waste so much food. The three main earths resources are being affected by that. The first is water, modern agriculture uses 70% of the global freshwater. So, when food is wasted so is water. The second would be land, because of the rise in the population the food demand has increased by 40% this has created pressure on the land. For more turnover of crops heavy use of fertilizers and pesticides is being used which is causing erosion on the fertile land. The third resource would be phosphorus, it is one of the main component in the fertilizers which is an important material. It is used in the growth of roots, seeds and fruit. To meet the current demand of crops and increase in the amount of phosphorus use, it is said it will reach its peak by 2030 and then it’ll become scare. (Foodly, 2015)