Human Activities Undermine the Environment Research Paper

Human Activities Undermine the Environment - Research Paper Example Interestingly, man’s exploitation of the environment can be traced throughout medieval history from the days of the scratch-plow and cross-plowing in the European continent; the subsequent invention of a more efficient plow that could cut the line of the furrow sharply defined man as the master of the environment rather than part of nature. Man’s power over nature has been captured vividly in western illustrated calendars before A.D. 830, which depict man as the exploiter of the environment through actions such as plowing, harvesting, chopping trees as well as butchering pigs (White, 1974). This clearly shows that man and the environment are entirely different things and that man has authority over his surroundings; in that respect, man’s exploitative relation with nature is not an entirely new phenomenon, given its documentation in medieval times. Biblically, man is charged as the custodian of the environment with all creation meant for man’s use; this al so underscores man’s authority over nature that has been the focus of Christian beliefs. The idea that man is superior to nature has inevitably informed man’s exploitative attitudes and tendencies that have in most cases rendered ecologies derelict through human maneuverings that have inevitably instigated numerous negative impacts.  There is great need for rethinking of man’s relation to nature, particularly given that the conceptualization of this man-nature relationship determines man’s impact on the environment.