Viewpoint Colour Magazine #14: Human Nature

We called this issue ‘Human Nature’, but, by that, we do not mean human character but humanity and its relationship with nature, the complex link between anthropoids and flora and fauna.

Our relationship to nature has changed significantly throughout history. For most of their time on earth, humans lived as hunter-gatherers, and fostered a deep relationship with the natural world, which they de- pended on for food, shelter, and medicine. The agricultural revolution shifted this relationship as humans gained more control over land with the cultivation of crops and animals. The Industrial Revolution led to urbanisation with harmful environmental consequences, and a growing disconnect from nature.

The alarm bells are ringing all over: we are living in the age of the Anthropocene, the age of nuclear weapons, human-caused climate change and the proliferation of plastics, garbage, and concrete across the planet. But the human being is still an animal belonging to the kingdom animalia. We depend on plants, fungi, algae and bacteria. Everything is connected. We need to work together with nature rather than trying to transform it, for, as we show in this issue it’s a two-way relationship in terms of inspiration and knowledge.