The Role Of Technology In Bridging The Gap Between Humans And Nature.
It is in humanity's best interests to live in coherence with nature rather than competence or arrogance.
Human beings have an innate sense of oneness with nature. It is in our DNA. The biologist Dr Edward Wilson termed it as Biophilia – the inborn affinity human beings have towards nature. It is evident in the way humankind has looked to nature as a source of sustenance, development and inspiration for generations. However, over the past decades, if not centuries, we have lost this sense of unity and identity. In today’s world, we seem to be under the impression that conquering nature is the best way forward rather than living in coherence with it and appreciating our interconnectedness. And so far we have been using technology primarily for the exploitation of nature, instead of using it as a means to reconnect with nature.
Technology, in its broadest definition, is the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes. For thousands of years technology of different forms has been used to change the way humans interact with their environment. These changes in interactions have, over time, changed the collective relationship between humans and the natural world.
Technology has allowed humans to manipulate and enforce control over different aspects of nature, wielding it to suit our purposes, often in the name of progress and development. Often, one of the side effects of these different technologies is creating a barrier between humans and the natural world, gradually diminishing the opportunity to live incoherence.
A simple example of this phenomenon is how people have increasingly begun to spend more hours of their lives in front of a gadget or on an online platform that disconnect them from the world outside. But this does not have to be the case. Like any tool, the impact of today’s technologies emanates from the users and the applications, not the technology itself. Technology, on the contrary, can play a huge role in bridging the gap between humans and nature.
Take, for example, camera and videos, a technology that has been around for some time now but continues to impact how we view the world. One of the most iconic photographs ever taken was that of the Earth as seen from space, in which the image captured allowed for a sense of perspective of the vast landscapes and terrains of the world to be viewed in a way like never before.
Today the images of Earth taken from space help us see the physical effects of humans on the landscapes of the world. These images are examples of how technology can be used to help humans make the connection between our actions and the impact on the natural world.
The portability of technology also provides new avenues to explore in terms of helping students connect with nature. With connectivity possibilities and handheld technological equipment, learning should move outside the four walls of the classroom, which is merely a human construct that has hindered learning for decades.
Experiments and explorations can be done in the natural environment and results and observations recorded and stored to be taken back to the lab or classroom to be interpreted there. Using technology to help create learning experiences within the natural world itself has the potential to open up new ways of thinking for the students to connect what they have learnt in different situations to the experience at hand.