Is mankind's effect on the environment actually completely natural?

Question

Right, here's the thing; human beings are primates. We're animals. Like other animals, we naturally have an effect on our surroundings, simply by existing. It would be impossible not to.

So surely pollution, global warming etc are simply part of the natural order of things?

To say that the effect we have on nature is 'unnatural' or 'bad' is bogus, because we're part of nature, and nature has no concept of good or bad (the notion that we are in some way separate from nature is a naive fantasy, handed down by our religiously inclined forebears).

The fact is that the world is always changing; sometimes huge numbers of species go extinct, or the world gets hotter or colder, or sea levels rise or fall. It happens for all sorts of reasons, none of them 'evil', 'wrong' or 'unnatural'. We're just the latest.

So, surely we should just do what we want to the environment? After all, it would be no more 'unnatural' to change the environment than it would be not to.

Discuss!

Answer 1

This is an interesting question. I don't think I've thought of the issue from this perspective yet.

I would have to say that arguing over whether it's natural or unnatural is pointless. The fact is that it's happening. Why not do something about it if we can? It is true that we are living in a warm, interglacial period and that the climate has been warming for many centuries now. However, if humans are contributing as much as scientists think they are, wouldn't it be better to stop arguing about it and try and change it?

The effects of global warming are going to be huge, even if they do occur over a long timescale. Essentially, by helping ease the effects of global warming, we're ensuring that we, as a species, will continue to live on this planet. It's not so much a question of natural versus unnatural as it is one about whether we should feel morally obligated to change it if we can, regardless of what the cause is.

Answer 2

I have always said the same thing

Especially when people call things "man made" everything is made from the stuff around us. nature made us and we use the things we have

Answer 3

Mankind's effect on the environment is so tiny so minuscule less than 0:01%. It is a total myth that humans can have an effect on the atmosphere the weather or any other of mother natures cycles

Answer 4

It doesn't really matter whether it's natural or not, does it?  It's the end result that counts.   It does seem to be natural though for mankind to behave selfishly.

Answer 5

Many scientists believe that humans have gotten to the point where they have separated themselves from nature. I personally don't really believe that. There have been thousands of examples discovered of communities of animals exhausting their own food supply or resources to the point of extinction. I think we're doing the same thing just on a larger scale. Swarms of beetles have destroyed forests which is a home to hundreds of other species of life and a major producer of oxygen. And i remember something about a community of deer somehow getting on an island where they had no natural predators so they over populated and exhausted their food supply. When people found the island there were no living deer just a bunch of deer skeletons. Just because it's natural doesn't mean it isn't destructive and we shouldn't do something to stop it.

Answer 6

All I do is steal hunny from bees. And Rabbit's carrots. But I don't harm them that much.

Answer 7

Whether or not you classify our environmental impact as 'natural' isn't really relevant.

We're causing global warming.  Global warming is causing global climate change.  We and all other species are adapted to the planet's current climate.  If we drastically alter this climate at a rate faster than species can adapt, it will have negative consequences on all species, since we are all part of an interdependent ecosystem.

If we're doing something which is going to have negative impacts on the species of this planet, I consider that 'bad', regardless of whether our actions can be classified as 'natural'.

Answer 8

Yes...as natural as a swarm of locusts.  I don't for one second believe man is responsible for global warming, but I've seen firsthand the harm we're causing our waterways among other things.  Natural doesn't mean sustainable....

The real push shouldn't be to lessen the impact we have on nature....it's to lessen the impact of impending change on our way of life.  By starting now we can ease in to it with less discomfort than we'll experience if we wait until we run out of oil.

Answer 9

I think your basic premise is wrong. Yes we are animals, but we are also much more than that.

Answer 10

Do landfills, companies with smokestacks, big cities (New York, San Fransisco, etc.) and cars, planes, and motorcycles sound natural to you?