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Nicholas Anton
ENG 110
Professor Jimmo
28 Oct. 2020
The Realignment of Our Connection with Nature
The human race does not realize that we need to reconstruct our relationship with nature
if we want to ensure that we will continue to live as a species on this planet. However, the way
we view our connection to the natural world varies very much between different people which
means that in order for us to fix our relationship, we must understand what needs to change so
that we can take our first step towards the better. Three authors, in particular, take the step of
describing approaches on how to treat nature each from a different point of view. Charles
Seibert, author of “An Elephant Crack-up?”, Karen Armstrong, author of “Homo Religious”, and
Malcolm Gladwell, author of “The Power of Context” are all the authors who each have a
different perspective on how our connection with the natural world is faulted. What is a
universal agreement, however, is the notion that the way we live with a fragmented connection to
nature is something that we should change. Human nature has long relied on nature to be a
crucial part of our lives. From agriculture to technological advances, nature has always played a
big role in our lives. But with the rise in the reliance on technology also comes the downfall of
nature. This is not beneficial for us as the most dominant species on the planet and is something
that we should take very highly into consideration if we want humankind to continue to prosper
on this planet.
A very important factor that we need to take into consideration is the fact that we share
this planet with animals. They make up as much of a part of the planet as we do so to better our
relationship with nature, we must also better our relationship with animals. An example of us
not respecting animals is the creation of zoos and the practice of poaching. Zoos are places
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where we imprison animals and exploit them for money. Poaching isn’t any better when we
consider that people hunt down animals in their habitats in order to sell parts of their body for
profit. The way that we imprison these animals and rid them of their freedom is a reflection of
what is to come if we do not take seriously the threat of incorporating nature into our lives. We
can take a step towards this by allowing ourselves to form an emotional connection with animals
and empathizing with them. Charles Seibert describes how “we need to educate people how to
live with wild animals like humans used to do, and to create conditions whereby people can live
on their land and live with elephants”(362). In the example between just humans and elephants,
we can observe a relationship that as of now, is so toxic that it has become a literal life or death
situation. This is not healthy for any of the parties involved and will only intensify with time if
the right steps are not taken and are ignored. The way we treat animals with which we neighbor
