Humans and Earth

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Our home planet, Earth, is more than 4.5 billion years old. While life is known to have existed on planet Earth for more than 3.5 billion years, we humans have only been around for 250,000 years. In the life of Earth, this is but the blink of an eye.

The nature of Earth, for Humans, is home. We evolved from nature. We need nature for our physical, emotional and spiritual well-being. Throughout our entire existence we have been reliant on nature for our survival.

Over time, though, whilst being reliant on nature, we have also learned how to shape the world around us. A ‘cognitive revolution’ occurred 70,000 years ago whereby elaborate cultures and systems of cooperation developed in human society. The ‘agricultural revolution’ 12,000 years ago accelerated this process, with humans learning how to domesticate plants and animals in farming practices which enabled our population to grow and for us to increasingly shape our surroundings.

Farm 22 The Extraverts22 Bruny Island Warwick Berry — The agricultural revolution occurred 12,000 years ago. Image: Warwick Berry 'The Extraverts'

The ‘scientific revolution’ of 500 years ago then paved the way for the industrial revolution of 250 years ago, which over the subsequent years has fuelled a dramatic growth in human population, economic activity and resource use across our planet. The digital revolution of the past half century has led to a dizzying pace and scale of changes to human society and economies and how we interact with the world around us. Humanity has grown to become a dominant force shaping the future of our planet.

But these stunning developments have disrupted our relationship with nature and now also bring immense challenges for humanity in the coming century.

The industrial and now digital revolution have led to a dizzying pace of growth and change in human society. But they have disrupted our relationship with nature and bring immense challenges. Image: Museums Victoria on Unsplash

The challenge for humanity this century is to re-connect with our natural world. To protect and restore the natural world upon which we all rely. To stabilise human population, to decouple economic growth from growth in resource use, and to re-imagine the way we organise our society and economy so that humans and nature can thrive together.

“It’s surely our responsibility to do everything within our power to create a planet that provides a home not just for us, but for all life on Earth.” – Sir David Attenborough.

Kid walking at Mt Field — The challenge of this century - connecting with, protecting and restoring wild nature. Image: Phill Pullinger

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