Nature Mirroring Humanity: How Our Imbalance Manifests to the World

As humans evolve, so does our world. Things that may have been unprecedented or unthinkable years ago can be accessed today with a few taps on a screen. The medical and scientific field has had countless breakthroughs that benefit humanity to this day. Several discoveries have driven us closer to the universe than ever before--The law of gravity, theory of relativity, Big bang theory, and quantum physics have all steered humanity closer to its cosmic roots. One would think that with all this knowledge, we should be doing better than we are now.

Whether we like it or not, we are tethered to the world. Our choices and stances affect more than ourselves—it has the power to change the course of the future. That is a fact. It is unfortunate that although humans have advanced to some degree, we still have not solved our most basic problem: how to create a world everyone wants to live in.

The choices humanity has been making up to now have been slowly catching up to us. The climate crisis, the collapse of biodiversity; ocean acidification, the growing class divide are all a reflection of what we prioritize as humans. These are a manifestation of our inner worlds. Our skewed priorities, our internal imbalance, and our unhealthy relationship with nature are slowly bringing the planet to its knees. We live in the age of humans—the Anthropocene—a geological epoch where humans shape the planet, not the other way around.

It took a global pandemic for us to take a step back and rethink how we live and interact with the world. For hundreds of years, we have been converting large-scale lands for human use. Our ecosystems have been transformed to cater to human needs alone without consideration of other living species; its exploitation continuously manifesting in how humans treat one another. Gaps between classes are widening, and human rights violations are becoming more prevalent. For instance, the land from which indigenous people and farmers work is not protected and recognized which disempowers them and limits their opportunity to expand their abilities and care for their land.

The greed of huge corporations whose priority centers around profit has caused a cycle of destruction—humans destroying the planet to keep the wheel of capitalism turning, and the planet giving scarcity and natural disasters. Uneven distribution of resources is exacerbated due to inequality and discrimination. The marginalized are the most vulnerable, yet the most uncared for.

The pandemic has highlighted these problems to a high degree. We now realize that access to healthcare is grossly privatized; that resources are concentrated to the well-off instead of distributed to the general public. The exploitation of large corporations has also come to our recognition. Because of these things, our desire for a better quality of life which we were often too busy to address has resurfaced. We are now striving—craving--to reclaim balance and speaking up against counterproductive and unsustainable practices set up against the working people.

The age of the Anthropocene reflects the imbalance of wealth, power, and opportunities, which then translates to how resources are acquired and distributed. We now see that the consequences of planetary and societal imbalance are interweaved: they interact in a vicious circle, each making the other worse. Now more than ever, we should be pushing for a better way to live.

The only way we can reverse this gross and blatant imbalance is by working in pursuit of equity, innovation, sustainability, and earth stewardship. We must drive humanity back to its roots—to innovate based on long-term goals that benefit not only humans but every other living species. The burden of changing the course of humanity rests heavily and those who have power, but the stewardship of nature requires the cooperation of every person around the world.

We must take full advantage now that humans can shape the planet. Echo the voices of climate activists; call for the corporate elites’ reduction of greenhouse emissions to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Reduce your carbon footprint by investing in sustainable materials, and practice ethical consumption by purchasing from small businesses and farmers. If we want to see a livable planet for future generations, the time to act is now.

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Hi, I'm Nathan. I'm a freelance writer that is very passionate about Women empowerment, wellness and mental health.