TCCMaven

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Natural Behavior

The fact that we build things and shape our physical environment does not make it "unnatural." The Yequana practice slash-and-burn agriculture. They also "control" their immediate village environment by removing the vegetation. Since you can't see the animals that are stalking you in the deep grass, I suspect clearing has been around for a very, very long time.

I look to my dictionary and it defines natural as "of or pertaining to nature, existing in or formed in nature."

Yep, that's us, humans, exisiting in and formed in nature.

There is a strong meme in our culture that what we create is somehow "unnatural" but I don't agree with it, nor do I understand it. I'm not really sure where we are living if it isn't in "nature", nor where we came from if it wasn't from "nature", AND, given that we evolved in "nature" how anything we do can be "unnatural."

There are a great many practices followed in our culture that are undesirable...that are unhealthy for ourselves and for the ecosystems we inhabit, but that doesn't make them unnatural, just unsustainable.