Nature is Fake

There is a danger in the word nature itself, as it signifies a common held belief, whether explicit or subliminal, that we, as humans exist in a world which is cleanly separated from the “natural environment.”

The irony in the separation of humans and nature, on a fundamental level is that we are a part of this closed loop system, and collectively impact its behaviour. The point is, the idea of nature and man existing separately is fake. To put it in an American context, many of the modern ideals which romanticize America’s public lands--i.e. National Parks, National Forests, etc. and their role in society as a place to explore some pristine and unpeopled wilderness is a falsity. America’s public lands, were firstly, priorly inhabited by indigenous populations which sadly no longer exist in most cases, and secondly, are heavily managed pieces of property which suffer dramatic changes from human use and need to be designed to handle that exposure (the aptly named “America’s Public Lands” by Randall Wilson is an excellent reference on this notion of environmental management.) Incidental areas of wilderness which exist because they have been less tampered with by direct human involvement are still affected by way of being a part of this closed loop system.

Many of us might want to imagine nature as the theoretical--some type of natural development which would occur in places that humans don’t disturb. I’m here to tell you that this doesn’t exist anymore, thus this idea is a fake one. The notion of plants growing and animals being happy in areas humans which are unbothered by humans is a nice one, however currently, such a place doesn’t exist. Literally all aspects of life on this planet are now affected by human life (that is not to say that plants and animals cannot still be “happy”--the ability to thrive is not negated).


Obviously, to bring things back to reality, there is an operational benefit of the word nature, which will continue to have its place. However, it is important to be critical of its blanket use, and to understand that, at the end of the day, we are still very much a part of it.