The Power of Nature

Nature has the power to heal. The power to distract people from the hustle and bustle of their everyday lives. The power to inspire the creation of art and innovative ideas. And the best part is: nature is always there.

When you go outside after a long day of work, all of the unimportant stressors of life disappear. You are able to connect with what truly matters. Today, people stress over myriad things from presentations to sports to chores. In the moment, these activities seem very important, like if we do not get them done perfectly there will be major consequences. However, in the grand scheme of life, these activities are just minute details.

Being out in nature can help put this into perspective. The vastness of landscapes can help us see how small our worries are. Nature allows us to escape from what humans have defined as important and return to what is actually important.

Aside from emotional benefits, nature also provides us with many resources and ideas. Nature is smart. It has existed for millions of years, and in that time, has learned a lot of lessons which has led to many new solutions. From the creation of adhesives and Velcro to the production of many medicines, humans have been inspired by nature’s solutions and have developed a variety of innovations that we use in our daily lives.

Despite all that nature gives us, though, we continue to harm it. We are pumping more and more carbon dioxide into the air, cutting down more and more trees, and extracting more and more minerals from the earth. Through this, we have disrupted many natural cycles on which organisms rely. However, nature is resilient. It has already survived many ice ages and mass extinctions. It can surely survive one more.

Organisms are adapting to the changing conditions as we speak. Because of this, if we act soon enough, we will be able to minimize the negative consequences of climate change and save most of the animal species we know today. If we do not act soon enough, however, the outlook is not nearly as nice. We very well may reach levels of previous mass extinctions, which would mean losing upwards of 80% of species.

While this situation is far from ideal and humans will lose a lot(and maybe become extinct themselves), the species that are left after the mass extinction calms down will be able to continue to evolve into new species better suited for the new environment. In the end, nature will return, likely stronger than ever before.