The Reverence towards Nature and the Fate of the Earth

Photo by Kayla Maurais on Unsplash

God gave us the earth. We have dominion over the plants, the animals, the trees. God said, “Earth is yours. Take it. Rape it. It’s yours.”

— Ann Coulter, Hannity & Colmes, June 20, 2001

The invading civilization confused ecology with idolatry. Communion with nature was a sin worthy of punishment… Nature was a fierce beast that had to be tamed and punished so that it could work as a machine, placed at our service for ever and ever. Nature, which was eternal, owned us slavery.

— Eduardo Galeano

Earth Day this year is April 22, 2020. In the midst of our Coronavirus crisis, it is high time for us to do some soul searching and examine our relationship with Earth. The emergence of this new pandemic is not an accident. It has much to do with our attitude towards nature — the animals, the plants and everything else on this planet. Ann Coulter’s attitude is consistent with that of the colonialists, the capitalists and many evangelical Christians. She sees the world is out there for us to conquer, exploit and plunder. She even believes that God condones it. It is a sharp contrast with the indigenous peoples’ attitude towards nature, which is that of reverence. It is also very different from that of the Taoists, which treats…