The Control of Nature

I've recently finished the excellent Control of Nature by John McPhee. He has a lovely turn of phrase and writes very well. What most caught my attention about this book though was the constant integration between the human condition and our relationship to and interaction with nature. Here's an example when talking about Icelandic attempts to redirect a lava flow in order to 'save' a wee fishing village:

'Even in something as primal as a volcanic eruption, the component of human interference could apparently enter the narrative and in complex and unpredictable geometries, alter the shape of succeeding events. After the human contribution passed a level higher than trifling, the human evolution of a new landscape could in no pure sense be natural. The event had lost it's status as a simple act of God. In making war with nature, there was risk of loss in winning.'

Here is an excellent case of the way we continually mould and shape the world around us. Even in a volcanic eruption - surely there can be little else more symbolic of 'raw' or 'pure' nature - the fundamental human capacity to (re)create our environments persist. I have to admit I find this sort of thing very encouraging.

On the one hand there is the pessimism born from seeing the human tendancy to constantly meddle and interfere. To always have the urge to poke around and be nosy, shunning the option to just let be. And examples of folly of this sort ending up in a sticky end are legion.

Yet there is tremoundous hope here also. That we have such agency leaves us largely able to rectify any mistakes we (collectivly and individually) have created. But it also gives us hope for creating the world we wish to live in around us. If we were more aware of these sort of capabilities and were a wee bit more stubborn in carring these out, maybe we could have far greater effect in affecting change?