It is all about balance

“We love this earth as a newborn loves its mother’s heartbeat. So, if we sell you our land, love it as we have loved it. Care for it as we have cared for it. Hold in your mind the memory of the land as it is when you receive it. Preserve the land for all children and love it, as God loves us all.” Chief Seattle

For centuries, humans have been taming and using nature for their selfish purposes but have carelessly neglected it at the same time. A long time ago – in 1852, Chief Seattle sent a letter to the president of the United States of America, addressing this issue in a very direct way. “This we know: The earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand of it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.” said Chief Seattle. It has been over 150 years, but we seem to have learned nothing and given no value to Chief Seattle’s words. Woods, coral reefs, animal and plant species keep disappearing, rivers and seas are being used as sewage drains every day, the glaciers keep melting and oil spills keep getting bigger, and nobody seems to mind or want to do anything about it. But is it easy to fight against a system that does not take nature into account at all?

Fortunately, awareness about the possibly permanent devastating effects of the human way of life has on nature has been rising, especially among younger people. We, the next generation, have been given the challenge and responsibility to use the knowledge provided to us by the previous generations to try and find a way to coexist with nature in the best ways possible. The best way to do that is to utilize the new technology and improve our way of life because if we do not do that, soon there may not be much life left to preserve – human, animal or plant. Now, the question arises: Can we use technology, the exact same tool responsible for the devastation of nature, to revive it? Fortunately, in the last decade, there have been projects and revolutionary ideas that encourage the use of technology for the betterment of our way of life and coexistence in harmony with nature once again.

Take for instance the way route profiles can be downloaded on the George Trails website to navigate with on a GPS devise and how this technology can help keep you safe. Gone are the days of getting lost unnecessarily costing the state (emergency services and police) thousands of rands.

Our mobile phones are literally life savers in many instances. They also connect us and let us see where our friends ran, hiked and cycled via apps like Strava, so we can share in their joy or challenge ourselves to do what they did.

Embrace technology but never forget that being out in nature is better and healthier than the instant gratification from staring at a screen for hours. It is all about balance, folks.

Article: Werner Rall

*Extracts used from the original article from Aya Ali Al Zayat published in The Global Ethics Network