Recommend everyone to watch this documentary, it may be the best documentary I have ever watched.
From 2014 to 2018, I lived in California, a place very close to nature. At that time, I also watched many nature documentaries. Not only did I watch, but I also often went camping in national parks with friends, hiking, and going to the beach. At that time, our ideology and lifestyle were closely linked to nature, and nature gave us endless inspiration and strength. We love nature very much, but this kind of love is obviously anthropocentric. Because we think she is beautiful and know that she is very fragile, we all try our best to practice a low-carbon lifestyle: some people use environmentally friendly water bottles, some people carry recyclable tableware with them, some people eat as much salad as possible, and some People pick fruits at neighbor’s house to make preserves. We are all talking about buying a hybrid car in the future, but in a year’s time, I decided to only be vegetarian, which changed my diet and became a vegan. Then one day, suddenly, all this changed for me.
In my junior year, I went to Brisbane to exchange, majoring in environmental science and natural science related courses, and really learning about our earth and nature let me know that nature is not fragile at all, but human beings are fragile. In the 4 billion years of the Earth’s life so far, there have been 5 global mass extinctions: asteroids hit the earth, supernovae gamma-ray bursts, super volcanic eruptions caused a sharp increase in carbon dioxide and eventually killed almost all living things, etc., the earth , Nature, after tens of thousands of years, or even hundreds of millions of years, can always make life flourish again and restore species diversity. Nature is not fragile at all. We can't destroy her. What we are destroying is ourselves. Unfortunately, the speed of this destruction is very fast. The truly catastrophic consequences brought by mankind, I can experience it myself without my next generation: according to the current development trend of mankind, ten years later, in 2030, Amazon The jungle, along with all the remaining wildlife living areas on the earth, will be burned down due to excessive dryness and over-deforestation, and the land, wild nature and wild animals will disappear. In 2050, coral reefs and major fishes will almost disappear. Then, before I’m 90 years old, slowly, the ocean will not be able to balance the earth’s carbon and oxygen balance. The earth will get hotter and hotter. The ice at the two poles of the earth will melt. If there is no ice reflecting excess sunlight, the earth will continue to heat up. Next, the permafrost will melt and release methane and other gases that make the earth hotter than carbon dioxide. The earth will then become hot. The global climate and ecology will be out of balance. There will be more and more extreme climates, and we will have no wild animals. , Without fish, the land is too dry to produce food, the earth will face a food crisis... Millions of people will be affected by famine, and in many, many places, the climate will become no longer suitable for human living...
All of this, if humans do not make any changes, my friends in California and I will be able to see. And what will happen next? The textbook also told me: One day in the future, too much greenhouse gases will once again turn our planet into the same kind of planet that caused the mass extinction of species last time because of the super volcano eruption. Become a sea of death, and then, our earth will be a hockey puck for thousands of years. In such a climate, perhaps some of human beings... can survive? Maybe not? It doesn’t matter which one, I just know, i dont care anymore.
I gave up. I'm just a small person. Why do I think I can protect nature? The earth and nature have undergone 4 billion years of development and evolution, and they contain powers that all our science and technology can't match. Humans can't kill her, we are just...killing ourselves...
Human beings are undoubtedly very smart, but smart is not power, self-control is, true wisdom is. After returning to California from Brisbane, I thought at the time that if in the end human beings can’t make good use of our technology, rethink the relationship between man and nature, save ourselves, and change our destiny, then perish if we perish, I don’t care. , (Nature is okay anyway, such a funny idea...
Then, slowly, I discovered that my body has changed. A big reason is also related to my leaving California and returning to a more anthropocentric life in China: when I stop practicing loving nature, nature also stops. "Love me", it slowly...leaves me, I no longer feel that I am a part of her, I no longer feel that I have any connection with natural elements other than humans, and I can no longer experience nature for me A sense of power, inspiration, expansiveness, and freedom.
To this day, I saw this film, and I think I might change my relationship with nature again. The grandfather described a possibility for us. If human beings change the relationship between man and nature, he no longer feels that he is a part of nature, but truly realizes that human beings can only develop as a part of nature. Only then is it possible to change one's own destiny, which is almost equivalent to destruction, and to develop forever and sustainably. To live, human beings need the ocean, glaciers, tropical rainforests, wild animals, and species diversity, because only with these can we have an ecological environment suitable for human survival. If we make good use of our technology and truly implement our wisdom, we can find a way that not only preserves all these we need, but also has inexhaustible sustainable resources.
Although, I know, the opportunity is very slim. It requires real wisdom, a certain sacrifice, the self-control of all mankind, and great determination. But I am willing to join Grandpa and become a member of many who believe in this hope like Grandpa. Even if we fail, at least, I know that we will get what I and my friends got back then:
"If we protect nature, nature will protect us. If we love nature, nature will love us. Nature is our best gift and our best inspiration."
(Maybe I will regain my faith, oh hope, every day without faith, human nature is really terrible)
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