One Nature to rule them all — Letter #5
Dear Ricardo,
Thank you for your letter.
Let me start by saying that should we have been born elves this discussion wouldn’t even exist. They’ve apparently figured it out!
Anyway, I think we agree more than we disagree. I, too, want to live in a place where I can enjoy the best of the best all at the same time, i.e., the wonders of the cities we’ve built and the wonders of the green and blue marvels of planet Earth. I think it’s possible! Again, this alone is a topic with its own merit that I think we should discuss in future letters, but for now I’ll make by best effort to stay focused.
The great hidden truth about this topic is precisely the fact that this is not a trade-off. We don’t have to forgo modern medicine, computers, electricity or bottled water to be closer to “nature”. In fact, never before we could explore so much of it! Think five hundred years ago, the only “nature” a peasant could dream of knowing was his farm. Now the average developed country citizen can climb mounts Kilimanjaro, Fuji and Olympus in a short period of time.
Furthermore, many times the people that want to reconnect with “nature” by force are the same that want to end private cars by force. The problem is that public transportation requires density, and density pushes “nature” away. Even using bicycles requires density, because there’s only so much distance you can make every single day, apart from other issues. We need true visionaries, not a bunch of fads that many times are incompatible and have no real long-term vision.
I hope the day comes when we can confidently call “nature” to all that surrounds us, God-made or Man-made.
Take care,
Francisco
Read Ricardo’s response here.
