What If We Stopped Calling Nature The Environment?

By: L. Civita

​What if we stopped calling nature the environment? The environment, by definition, is: the surrounding conditions in which living organisms exist. The very nature of the word implies its detachment. It's ultimate portrayal as a background, a “condition” to endure to continue our separate lives. But we are not separated from nature; we are made by it. The same carbon dioxide that fuels our trees builds our bones, and the fruit we eat is nurtured and formed by a mother, much like we are. Every breath we take was first exhaled by a tree. I believe that if we shifted this view, maybe we would treat the river, for example, a little differently.  An extension of ourselves rather than a home to our waste. Walk by the Tietê. We don't treat it like something we are; we treat it like something we found.  Maybe, instead of claiming to care about saving the environment, we should try to actually save ourselves, as we, in the end, are “it.”