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At a more subtle level, I find myself now aware of the strange desert wasteland thatwe have come to substitute for nature . Our parks, manicured lawns, and concretecoveredcityscapes, with their cold, clean, bug free, Ke ntucky blue grass, now seemto me to be like a wasteland. This contrast has become clear to me since I allowedthe land around our new home in the country to naturalize, populate with manynative trees, millions of bugs, and native plants of every kind. Even in the cities Ivenoticed a few brave creative souls have defied convention by creating front yardsfilled with wild flowers, perennials and native grasses. Given the slightest chance,nature creates a beauty, manages itself and feeds itself to perfect ion. It brings aterrible lump to my throat now as I wonder through the countryside, aroundsuburban mega-developments, and even old downtown neighborhoods and parks.We have disconnected ourselves so far from nature that we now shun weeds, hatescrappy looking native trees, scream at the sight of ants, and hate the nuisancepests around us. And yet, now that Ive spent just a few years back in nature I seeincredible beauty in a field full of wild flowers, grasses, raspberries, thistles, daisies,bushes, and beautiful dandelions.The Environment or You?At the root of many manifestations of environmental problems , as identified bythe scientific community, is a disconnection between humans with the naturalworld. Our global economy is driven by the idea of endless growth, economics ofselling and a lack of any real connection to the natural world. This cant continue.Nature demonstrates that balance and symbiosis are the answers to sustainability.This takes a societal change that rejects the idea of growth, money and consumerismas the driving forces of the global community.Our decision to accept the media, advertising and government mantra thateconomics must be our top priority has created a monster that fuels itself at theexpense of everything in nature . By establishing economics as societys number onepriority we have forgotten t hat the meaning of our life is not defined by how muchmoney we have or how much profit our corporations generate. Rather life definesitself by its ability to continue over the long term. Life is about finding symbioticrelationships that benefit all of nature. Life uses its intelligence to support all naturalprocesses. It is self-organizing and self-regulating, and values the whole over theindividual because the individual is part of the whole.42