ABSTRACT
At the onset of his relationship with nature, when the alternative was to kill or he killed, man found himself in a state of continual struggle for survival. In our epoch, thanks to the progress of civilization, man’s life is no longer threatened, and he has ceased to he a prey, only to become the most formidable exterminator of the most varied forms of life. Animals like the Dodo from Mauritius, the Moa of New Zealand, Steller’s water buffalo, or the Basque whale will never again walk the earth or swim its seas. Hunting and fishing ravage nature and disturb its natural cycles. It could be hypothesized that the increase in marine phosphorescence is due to the excessive multiplication of animal and plant species whose predators have themselves become the prey of man. (...)
Man’s action on nature can sometimes lead to its degradation or sometimes to its conservation or even its ’’embellishment”. The very close relationship that exists between nature and man has a direct impact on civilizations. Many civilizations have disappeared or regressed due to their disastrous relationship with nature. The advanced nations are destroying the land. In Brazil and Colombia, man is destroying the forests to plant corn. After a few years, the land is lost. A ’Wage to own” takes hold of man, who breaks up the countryside and transforms it. Nature’s beauties are alienated and turned into objects. They lose their inherent worth and are valued basically for their economic interest. Man, “the conscience of the earth”, has a responsibility to preserve nature.
