Humanities & Cultures

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Human society and cultural news, studies, and other things of that nature. From linguistics to philosophy to religion to anthropology, if it's an academic discipline you can most likely put it here.

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Humans Shaped Life on Earth For 12,000 Years, And It Wasn't All Doom And Destruction (www.sciencealert.com)

submitted 1 year ago by Griseowulfin to c/humanities

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I share this as a tonic to a lot of the discourse I see online from people exasperated at the negative changes we bring to our environment as humans. I have met many people who feel that humans are inherently destructive to the environment as well.

I think a separation from wildlife due to urbanization might have something to do with idea that humans are above or separate from nature. I feel picking up hobbies like gardening and hunting were important for reminding me of my presence as a part of the natural world (This might be one upside to COVID, given everyone I know started gardening and raising plants. Ha.).

I think the statement from the article encouraging locals to be included in the stewardship of natural resources is incredibly important. Especially in the US, where lots of our undisturbed land is owned by the Interior department or the states, many times, regional natives often have insight that can be beneficial for the landscape (ex. California allowing Indian tribes to conduct controlled burns as a means for preventing wildfires).

I just hope that this article can renew optimism for some, given the bleak things that we see weekly in the news regarding the environment and nature, that we can exist within nature without our actions (including modification) being bad. It's too easy to feel that we're just doomed and that nothing we do can be good for us or the rest of our ecosystem.

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[–] gerbal 8 points 1 year ago

I think a lot of people fall into the ideological trap of imagining humans as something outside of and distinct from nature. We are natural creatures that have evolved with and adapted to our environment for entire existence.

Human alteration of our habitat is natural, but that doesn't necessarily mean good or bad for your given values.

Recognizing that existing in an environment inherently alters it is part of learning how humans function as part of ecosystems rather than as masters.