With a love for nature, I understand why Thoreau tried to get away from civilization. If he lived in today's society, he would be furious with the direction that our culture is headed. The human drive for success and the desire to be the best has caused nature to become unnaturalized. Various chemicals, pesticides, and genetic manipulations are now used to increase productivity among other things. But what does this mean for us? What long term affect with this have on the natural world?
Today, hardly anything is truly natural. Society has created a great illusion with the placement of gardens, parks, and reservations. But all of these places are planned, executed, and sustained by humans, for humans. If nature was truly natural, people would need to accept that some plants die. It's survival of the fittest. In regards to farming, the process of farming used to be fairly simple: you plant a seed and water it. Now with the growing demands of the population, the only way farmers can stay in business is to increase productivity--and this leads down a slippery slope. Crops and even animals have become genetically modified to help meet these demands. Biotechnologists are now able to take genetic material from one organism and incorporate it in the genetic code of another. Chickens can't stand because the steroids used on them make them gain more weight than they can physically support. On top of that, crops are being genetically engineered to increase productivity but the downfall comes when the consumers do not know that the crops may be a serious health risk. Nature used to exist with all of its little imperfections but now a culture has arisen that does not have a tolerance for imperfection. If it was my choice, everyone would be able to grow and harvest an amount of food that meets the needs of the neighborhood. Each home bringing a couple products to add to the selection. If the world was somehow able to be void of the mass market system, nature would at least be able to remain at its current state instead of falling into the abyss.
Today, hardly anything is truly natural. Society has created a great illusion with the placement of gardens, parks, and reservations. But all of these places are planned, executed, and sustained by humans, for humans. If nature was truly natural, people would need to accept that some plants die. It's survival of the fittest. In regards to farming, the process of farming used to be fairly simple: you plant a seed and water it. Now with the growing demands of the population, the only way farmers can stay in business is to increase productivity--and this leads down a slippery slope. Crops and even animals have become genetically modified to help meet these demands. Biotechnologists are now able to take genetic material from one organism and incorporate it in the genetic code of another. Chickens can't stand because the steroids used on them make them gain more weight than they can physically support. On top of that, crops are being genetically engineered to increase productivity but the downfall comes when the consumers do not know that the crops may be a serious health risk. Nature used to exist with all of its little imperfections but now a culture has arisen that does not have a tolerance for imperfection. If it was my choice, everyone would be able to grow and harvest an amount of food that meets the needs of the neighborhood. Each home bringing a couple products to add to the selection. If the world was somehow able to be void of the mass market system, nature would at least be able to remain at its current state instead of falling into the abyss.