For any environmentalist, the task of defining nature could be described as the riddle asked at the crossing of the troll bridge. How do we even begin to define nature? How can we define something that has been integrated in every aspect on earth, living and nonliving? Even when we break down something completely manmade in which we believe to be the most removed from nature, we still will find that at its core, a part of nature was intrinsic in its creation. Defining nature has always been a goal for politicians, lawyers, environmentalist and people who are trying to preserve, or control, this precious being/commodity/thing, (it’s even hard to categorize it into what type of noun it is), and that we find important in order to know how to handle it in the future.
Throughout time, Gottlieb shows how we have changed nature and redefined the meaning due to the complexities of nature. Each time we have changed it, we have changed the definition and each result of these changes has caused a degradation of the environment, but communities as well. If we look throughout time, when we decide what is “natural” we act upon this definition quickly and vastly. We act so swiftly as we develop entire industries, communities and marketplaces studies based off of these small and untested beliefs. An example of this is the “green washing.” As becoming green became and new fad, industries and products are determined to slap the green label on all of their products, changing what products are used and grown for these new commodities and opened a more expensive market for the same type of goods everyone before which worked fine.
We know a few key features of what humans have always considered as part of nature. A place, the land and its features all have been key in how we decide the value of nature. A common problem within communities who are experiencing environmental social injustices are the feelings of nostalgia. Nostalgia is tied to this idea of place, but in a personal way, it relates to the desire to return to home. This is a common feeling communities have when they lack nature. This feeling of home as nature is what ties us to the fact that we are connected to nature, as we came from nature much like all other living creatures. This feeling of home is what is essential in order for humankind to rethink that impact that they have on the world and to care. This connection is what makes us care, and only when people care about something is action taken. In order to make a difference, change the course of the destruction of nature, we need this sense of compassion in order protect our planet and ultimately ourselves, as we are apart of nature. The connection to nature is fulfilled as described in the reading through experiencing the materialistic side of nature as in planting trees, hiking, and gardening. This is the reason why our actions on the definition’s of nature with lawns, cars, the needs to feel in nature which created suburbs, have actually affected nature negatively, while tree planting in cities and gardening are the positive outcomes of our understanding of nature that stay around today and continue to positively affect the environment.
Sometimes, our broad definitions of nature, continuous reinventing of nature and our quests to continuously fix nature has also left us with environmental injustice problems that further excludes exploited groups from nature and further grows this feeling of nostalgia. Large popular concerns of major powers tend to get focus on issues that are not directly going to affect the communities in which these problems persist. For example, as argued in the Nature as Community reading, largely addressed issues like the whaling and rainforest degradation has caused minority or exploited groups of people to be further harmed as priority shifts to the environment instead of the people.
Clearly, mankind has had problems in attempting to improve or remove nature. These errors are made from the misguided definitions of nature and the consequences from acting on these definitions. They have left communities without necessary access to natural landscapes leading to further degradation and exploitation from major producers that destroy the environment not only in these communities, but outside of them as well. Understanding the key aspects that go into nature can help us further understand what we find essential for the continuation of a clearly necessary relationship to nature that all humans require. Defining nature can be nearly impossible, as is answering the riddles to cross a bridge, but we need to cross the bridge to continue on.
