Humans, stewards on earth.

Philosophy 365 Samina Jiwani Tittle: Humans, stewards on earth. We as humans, use nature as a source of power and resource, but ignore the fact that it is also the source of divine presence. We need nature not for shelter and food only, but also for Nurture of our souls, life is a passage, we should remember that we are here for specific time, and we should leave the world better place than we found it for the sake of our future generations. in this paper, I will try to present the role of humans and their responsibilities on earth. Humans contributed quiet a bit in the destruction of the natural ecosystem. The creator created the world for his entire creations not just for humans only. Survival of humans will be a challenged because of our little attention towards our environment. After watching the film koyaanisqatsi (life without balance) for me it presents fast paced life without a particular direction, values or purpose. Non narrative, with music touching mind and soul explain and expresses all the esoteric and exoteric messages, forces viewers to think and act on their own intellect and wisdom. The images leaves viewers an option to derive their own interpretation. The film rotates on three elements or characters: Nature, Technology, and Human beings. In the film natural images of great canyons, limitless desserts, clouds, oceans, open sky looks pure and beautiful to me, because they are not disturbed by humans yet or in other words not changed or modified. The images of nuclear explosion, space rockets, mass production of semiconductor, means of transportation, elevators, tall building, factories, all drawing my attention towards air pollution and water pollution, damaging Ozone layer and climate change. Images with people made me think of over population and people smoking are not just hurting themselves but hurting others and the environment as well. Humans in the film seems depress, confuse and wandering. I strongly feel that the film is trying to draw our attention towards our environment; we are just using nature to keep artificial things alive because our approach is anthropocentric and we think that only humans have intrinsic values on earth. Human has a natural tendency to be mean, selfish, With its superior intelligence and soul compare to other living being, became dominant over the land, ignoring nature and all the other living things. God’s-creation was evident on earth way before any revelation of religion or its scriptures, universe itself is creator’s first revelation, trees, mountains, animals, sounds of wind, flowing water, and humans are obvious signs of creator himself. All Abrahamic religions teach oneness of creator, and supports stewardship view of our environmental responsibilities. I do agree and respect most philosophers regarding their views on environment, however after watching the film and as being a person with religious influence and interest in environmental ethics; I believe and support Abrahamic worldview. All Abrahamic religions and traditions have strong basis for environmental ethics, in all these religions, God holds central status and god created everything for a purpose, God communicates through nature, human kind must be humble caretaker (stewards) of the earth and accountable for their actions. After watching the film I strongly think that humans are the main cause of damaging the environment, for the sake of his comfort and convenience. I strongly agree and support Leopold’s vision and his philosophy ” Conservation is getting nowhere because it is incompatible with our Abrahamic concept of land. We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.” Deforestation could lead to more flash floods like recently in South East Asia and Queensland Australia. This could also be blamed for huge climate change in various parts of the world. Whether one is religious or secular, one must realize that they cannot continue to dump in the landfills forever, Issues of conservation, natural resources, protecting Ozone layer, population growth, deforestation should be addressed and as an individual one should share the responsibilities, to cooperate with one another and also working with nature. Survival of humans will be a challenged because of our little attention towards our nature and we should take steps to combat climate changes. This means try to carpool, drive fuel efficient automobiles, unplug all electronic appliances when not in used, buy locally produced items with less packaging, Recycle, use 100% post-consumer recycled paper. Used compact fluorescent bulbs and save 70% of the electricity, go for renewable energy. Humans are superior in this universe because of his stewardship, and human beings will be accountable for his actions on earth, like humans, Nature itself and all living beings in the world have intrinsic value within it and our approach should be eco-centric view. I think and believe that we are part of the nature and nature not just exists for humans only. Earth’s resources are limited in supply, our success depends upon learning. Economic growth should be promoted, only for the sake of environmental benefits not for harming the environment. As per Leopold; “ That land is a community is the basic concept of ecology, but that land is to be loved and respected is an extension of ethics. That land yields a cultural harvest is a fact long known, but lately forgotten.” Another analogy of stewardship could be explained as “ Humans as renter on earth”. This simply, puts heavier responsibility on people using the most earth’s resources. Since our country, The United States of America is the most powerful and most resource using country on earth, the heaviest responsibility also falls on us and we must do our part in the world in reducing Carbon footprint, Emission and deforestation and encourage our citizens to recycle more and more to avoid creating more landfills.