Love it or Lose it

David Orr in this piece brings up the topic of "biphobia", which is the culturally acquired urge to affiliate with technology, human artifacts, and solely with human interests regarding the natural world. If maybe one person feels like this it may not be a big deal but if a growing number of people feel like this it might be become a detrimental state of being. At the other end of the spectrum is "biophilia" which is defined as the urge to affiliate with other forms of life.

Somehow some way humans have always modified their environments in order to make them more fit for themselves; not always benefiting nature at best. With the knowledge we now have we need to make a choice between biphobia and biophillia. They way biophobia has manifested itself has led the world in which it is becoming easier to be biophobic. For example ozone depletion, meaning more eye cataracts and skin cancer, does not give us more reason to stay indoors. Biophobia acts in a "vicious cycle" which leads people to act in such a way as to undermine the characteristics of nature making the person or persons dislike nature.

We now live in a time where it is greatly debated about what it means to live "sustainably" on earth. But our dilemma is that we are trying to define what sustainability means while dealing with an either an intimate relation with nature or total mastery of it. This is what tugged at my heart when I read this article because it is one hundred percent true and we must do something about it.