Introduction to Responses to the Land: Nature, Ecology and Materialism

Introduction to Responses to the Land: Nature, Ecology and Materialism

In Introduction to Responses to the Land: Nature, Ecology and Materialism, the author makes a point that the ways of the world are changing. Through diverse religions and cultures, people seem to have different ideas. The author writes, “[In Eastern cultures, they] maintain a sense of nature as intimately connected with who we are” (page 342). However, in the Western cultures, they fear nature. As time progressed, Romantic artists looked at nature from a different angle. They saw nature as something to tune into, connecting their soul through nature. In the 19^th century, Henry David Thoreau pointed out that “material aims might result in economic prosperity, but that prosperity would come at a tremendous price” (page 343). It seems that the world has been increasingly more involved with material items rather than nature more so than ever before. For example, we see ads for a product or service everywhere we turn. All the time, the media keeps forcing down materialistic items down our throats, and I believe that we have become immune to it all.

The point of this article is that everything around us is changing culturally. In the beginning, there were cultures that both feared and embraced nature. As time went on cultures started to see nature in a fresh new way, and decided to use nature as a way to “rejuvenate their spirits and [to boost] their creative energies” (page 342). As new centuries came and gone, something significant would is occurring constantly—cultural evolution. A point made from the text that is used is materialism. As time went on, people have been more concerned about tangible items, creating a cultural shift in people’s lives. Now it is acceptable to be concerned about looking “cool” or “hip”. Overall, it seems that cultures are evolving. If someone were to look at the timeline from the beginning until now, it would be clear that there have been dramatic shifts in the way people think, their beliefs and their opinions on things. However, I believe that that the world is going to keep changing culturally because there will always be new ideas, opinions, and other events that will alter cultures in many new ways.