In the beginning of time, man and nature lived peacefully with each other. They both understand that the survival of each other depends on the cooperation between the two parties (man and nature). Man depends on nature wholly for everything that it needs for his day to day activities, thus man became subjected to whims and caprices of nature. Man needs nature for food, shelter, security and other designs as concerned in the heart of man.
The early men were totally subjected to nature, they obey the law (natural) of times and season. All human believes that everything is subjected to time and that nature is the chief decider of the natural order. Nature determines what to plant, what to eat, the type of cloth to put on their respective season. At this point, man wasn’t exerting on nature i.e. it only accept in good faith what nature has to offer without questioning the natural order of life. As a matter of fact, all living creatures believe in this natural order, be it trees, plants, animals (land and sea)
The Change Began
The major changes to this natural order began to manifest when human centralization began to increase. Man broke away from the natural pact he had with nature. All other creatures (fishes, lion, monkey, birds) tried to convince man on the need to maintain the status quo which is maligning nature the natural decider of the faith of all living things, but all this to no avail. Man was determined, man had made up his mind, he vowed never again to submit to nature’s authority. Not only that, man will not submit to nature, but he will also subdue nature to become his slave. The other stakeholders reminded man about the fate of those who had dared nature. They tried to relay to man the consequences of their actions. Where are the dragons? Mamoths? Dinosaurs? The great beasts that had dared nature in time past. They are all dead, their bones buried beneath the surface of the earth.
Nevertheless, man was obstinate. The battle line between man and nature had been drawn. Man began to develop an advance in technology then came the industrial revolution in 1750s. man began to dominate everything such as land, air, water, and everything you can ever imagine. Man did not only engage nature in a fierce battle of supremacy, man began to dominate his fellow man, oppressing each other through slavery, war and colonization. At the end of the 19th century, another major war erupted which caused great havoc on all species. No one was spared (human and otherwise). This was the era of the world wars, the center stage was in the heart of Europe. Millions lost their lives, natural environment was degraded as a result of arsenals deployed during the war. The first war ended in 1919, another catastrophe would soon break out between 1940s to 1950s. after that, the madness in man became subdued. Man started seeing the reason not to fight each other and he turned its aggression on nature. At this point, industrialization expanded. Giant factories emerged all over the globe. Great machines were built. Nations all over the world began to explore everything around them such as oil, gold, platinum, lead, tin, gas. The effect of all this is that man’s aggression on nature had not only destroyed the natural order fo doing things, man had broken the cord of life. Nature gave different warnings through earthquakes, tsunami, hurricanes, heat wave, volcanoes, tornado, storms and many other signals. Nature was doing this to make sure that man would come to his senses and see the need for peaceful cohabitation between man in nature. Man was resolute, he declared a total onslaught on nature. He will subdue nature under any circumstance. At this point, nature would no longer tolerate man’s excessiveness. She would give to man the same measure he had offered. Other creatures tried to mediate. The lion roared, the whales scream, the birds sang trying to appease nature. Man must be wiped out. Nature had vowed that man would no longer have a place on planet earth.
The basis of this write up is to open our eyes to the events happening around us. We need to reduce our excessiveness and abuse of natural environment. We need to encourage afforestation and discourage deforestation. We need to understand the consequences of oil spillage on water and the ecosystem. We need to realize that man is not nature but only a part of nature, and the survival of man and the continuity of our race can only be achieved and sustained only if we have an habitable planet to live. We need nature more than nature needs us. If this war on nature does not stop and man’s abuse and oppression of the natural environment continues, it will mark a journey of man into oblivion and nature will be the last one standing.
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