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12:29 PM
Chibeze Ezekiel
Man has been endowed with the power, ability, skills or dominion to govern the world as illustrated in the book of Genesis. Man therefore from the days of Adam has manipulated nature (or natural elements) with such authority to make the world what it is today. God delivered a simple but important task to Adam in the Garden of Eden – to dress and keep it! Has Man lived up to this responsibility?
Whiles we applaud humans for their display of ingenuity, creativity, innovation in the name of development through philosophical, scientific and/or technological concepts or ideas, we seem to neglect the negative effects of our actions on nature.
Trees or plants have drastically been hewed down; water bodies are increasingly becoming vulnerable; animal species are dying out and becoming extinct and so forth. The massive exploitation of Nature by Man since creation has incurred the displeasure of Nature. Today, weather patterns have changed dramatically to the detriment of peasant agriculturalists that depend on small scale farming for their livelihood. On the larger scale, developing countries who are predominantly agriculturally-based economies are been badly affected thereby threatening the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) with respect to the eradication of poverty.
Storms, sea surges, hurricanes, volcanoes, heat waves, changes in precipitation, high sea levels and so on have place human life under danger. Nations or cities have been torn apart by hurricanes; villages have been sub-marine by high sea levels; earthquakes have ripped through land territories leaving behind unquantifiable volumes of disaster. And indeed, these phenomena seem to be endless. Can it be attributed to Nature speaking?
Interestingly, humans to ensure their own safety and security have enacted various policies or laws in the name of human right – right to live; right to information; freedom of speech; right to basic amenities etc -. In the event of having one’s rights violated, the victim aggressively screams for his/her rights to be respected and stretches towards the arms of the law for justice. Even 3rd parties (advocates) take it upon themselves to fight for the right of the marginalized, disenfranchised or the weak in society. But who speaks for Nature? Indeed, I must acknowledge that some individuals, groups or organizations have made frantic efforts to speak on behalf of Nature. Examples of such bodies are Friends of the Earth and Wide life society. Arguably, these bodies have do not have the power to halt damages dished out to Nature regardless how much and hard they wail. It depicts a typical village where women may weep and cry against certain cultural practices but dare not question the authority of their husbands or rulers.
If Man can’t dress and keep Nature, then it’s logical that nature should speak for itself. Unfortunately, Nature does not react in a friendly manner. All the natural disasters we are engulfed with are the “fighting-back” campaign of Nature. According to the law of consequentialism – the rightness and wrongness of an action are determined by the consequences of the action. By this inference, all the natural disasters we are experiencing are due to our consequences of our actions on Nature.
Man is now at the mercy of nature as any change in the latter has inevitable consequences on the former.
When Nature speaks…
- Man becomes devastated
- Man becomes pitiful
- It has no respect for human rights
Do we then have a way out? Sadly, we cannot escape “hearing the voice” of Nature but can adopt 2 remedial options notably:
1. To adjust to the consequences
2. To respect and uphold the rights of Nature – right to live and right to be preserved.
Whiles we applaud humans for their display of ingenuity, creativity, innovation in the name of development through philosophical, scientific and/or technological concepts or ideas, we seem to neglect the negative effects of our actions on nature.
Trees or plants have drastically been hewed down; water bodies are increasingly becoming vulnerable; animal species are dying out and becoming extinct and so forth. The massive exploitation of Nature by Man since creation has incurred the displeasure of Nature. Today, weather patterns have changed dramatically to the detriment of peasant agriculturalists that depend on small scale farming for their livelihood. On the larger scale, developing countries who are predominantly agriculturally-based economies are been badly affected thereby threatening the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) with respect to the eradication of poverty.
Storms, sea surges, hurricanes, volcanoes, heat waves, changes in precipitation, high sea levels and so on have place human life under danger. Nations or cities have been torn apart by hurricanes; villages have been sub-marine by high sea levels; earthquakes have ripped through land territories leaving behind unquantifiable volumes of disaster. And indeed, these phenomena seem to be endless. Can it be attributed to Nature speaking?
Interestingly, humans to ensure their own safety and security have enacted various policies or laws in the name of human right – right to live; right to information; freedom of speech; right to basic amenities etc -. In the event of having one’s rights violated, the victim aggressively screams for his/her rights to be respected and stretches towards the arms of the law for justice. Even 3rd parties (advocates) take it upon themselves to fight for the right of the marginalized, disenfranchised or the weak in society. But who speaks for Nature? Indeed, I must acknowledge that some individuals, groups or organizations have made frantic efforts to speak on behalf of Nature. Examples of such bodies are Friends of the Earth and Wide life society. Arguably, these bodies have do not have the power to halt damages dished out to Nature regardless how much and hard they wail. It depicts a typical village where women may weep and cry against certain cultural practices but dare not question the authority of their husbands or rulers.
If Man can’t dress and keep Nature, then it’s logical that nature should speak for itself. Unfortunately, Nature does not react in a friendly manner. All the natural disasters we are engulfed with are the “fighting-back” campaign of Nature. According to the law of consequentialism – the rightness and wrongness of an action are determined by the consequences of the action. By this inference, all the natural disasters we are experiencing are due to our consequences of our actions on Nature.
Man is now at the mercy of nature as any change in the latter has inevitable consequences on the former.
When Nature speaks…
- Man becomes devastated
- Man becomes pitiful
- It has no respect for human rights
Do we then have a way out? Sadly, we cannot escape “hearing the voice” of Nature but can adopt 2 remedial options notably:
1. To adjust to the consequences
2. To respect and uphold the rights of Nature – right to live and right to be preserved.
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