The Natural World

"Rediscovering the natural world ought not to be difficult. It ought to be an instinctive act. Not just in random bursts of virtuousness should we be moved to replace our divots. If the Earth felt less like something out there and more like an extension of our bodies, we'd care for it like kin. We'd engage in what German philospher Immanuel Kant called "beautiful acts" rather than "moral acts." We'd pull in the direction of global survivan not because we felt duty-bound to do so but because it felt right and good. At a 1990 conference titled "psychology As If the Whole Earth Mattered" at Harvard University's Center for Psych. and Social Change, panelists concluded, "If the self is expanded to include the natural world, behavior leading to destruction of this world will be experienced as self-destruction." - Culture Jam by Kalle Lasn