te a living thing from its habitat. Humans have the ability to alter their surroundings and disrupt the balance of nature to a point where an equilibrium may never be reached. So in the definition of nature, human element have no part of it. We will assume that we act as an outside force onto a habitat. Nature is intrinsically goodAlthough our actions towards the environment, especially within the past 150 year, may not have been favorable, nevertheless the historical and global attitudes toward nature has always been one of reverence. The proof of this reverence can be seen through religion. It can also be inferred from our interests in science and the fact throughout history there have always been advocates for the preservation of nature. These notions are not limited to a section of the world, but have independent roots in many cultures and societies world wide.One place to start are in cosmology sagas. Many of them have a common thread of being highly naturalistic and emphasizing the miracle of all life. The Enuma Elish, an ancient tale from Mesopotamia, describes the forming of the world from pure water. These peoples most revered gods and goddesses were ones of land and abundance. Although this can be explained away by many critics as simply there dependence on an agrarian society, it does show an initial reverence for nature and its wealth as well as its destructive powers. A basis for much of Western world is the Old Testament. In Genesis, the garden of Eden is paradise where all things live in harmony even man is naked, his most primitive state. This natural state beginning stages of life all believe in the purity of nature and changes to it through mans hand.Beyond mythology, we have religion. Jainism which grew out of Hindu ideals reveres nature and believe all living things deserve our respect especially other animals. One of its fundamental rules is to try not to harm any animal for any reason. On the other ...
