Nature … So different, so understandable … So close, so incomprehensible. We pronounce the word "nature", going for a vacation in the countryside. We talk about nature, characterizing our environment. We complain that we could not conquer nature, and are glad that we have not completely destroyed it yet.
So what is nature? There are many definitions. One of them, the narrowest in meaning, states that nature is everything that the natural sciences study and research. Such an applied definition does not at all explain the essence of the concept.
What is nature? This is all that has appeared in the Universe and exists independently of human activity or desire. That is how the answer to the question of what nature is, an encyclopedia.
Planets and the universal vacuum, the diversity of terrestrial organisms and volcanoes on Mars, summer thunderstorms and formidable viruses, oceans and plasma, man and quasars - this is nature. It can be cultivated or wild, living or nonliving. This is the broadest interpretation of the term.
But there is another answer to the question of what nature is. Nature is our habitat. This is a complex of all natural conditions for the existence of human society and the environment in which it lives.
The interaction of society and nature can be positive, neutral or negative. For centuries, primitive people lived, adapting to the environment and not really thinking about where the thunderstorms or winds come from, why it is colder in winter than in summer.
Gradually developing, society began to think about its surroundings. In an attempt to explain obscure phenomena, mermaids and nymphs were born, spirits living in plants appeared, Greek and Slavic Gods ascended to the tops and heavens.
How, at what point did man decide that he was not just a master, but a King of nature? We started building dams and turning back rivers, introducing new varieties of plants, crossing crabs with tomatoes. The term “conquer nature” for many years has become the motto of the life of human society.
Today, nature is tired of our experiments and attempts to conquer it and began to take revenge. Endless floods, an unprecedented tsunami, unprecedented tornadoes destroy everything that a man built. Mutations, new deadly diseases, immunodeficiency, autoimmune diseases threaten the very existence of mankind. The interaction of man and nature has become a confrontation.
We forgot that nature is very dependent on how human society relates to it. We do not recall that everything in the universe is interconnected. If we, people who consider ourselves civilized, continue to change our environment, destroy the harmony inherent in natural nature, then at one far from perfect moment nature can change us. Unrecognizable. Forever. Or maybe she just wants to shake us off the Earth’s body, like dogs shake annoying aggressive insects. Increasing hurricanes, tsunamis, other natural disasters and global disasters make you think about this.
Man and society can learn to live in complete harmony with nature. To do this, you need to understand: there is the only right answer to the question of what nature is. Nature is our life.
