Love it or lose it: The coming Biophilia Revolution by David W. Orr

 

 

Love it or lose it: The coming Biophilia Revolution by David W. Orr discusses human mindset towards the environment. He suggests a biophilia hypothesis in which the author suggest there is natural instinctive bond between humans and nature.  Although he does mention there is also some who possess what he calls biphobia. He says this phobia is “increasingly common among people raised with television, Walkman, radios attached to their heads, and video games living amongst shopping malls, freeways, and dense urban and suburban settings where nature is permitted tastefully as decoration”(Orr 2). Although that didn’t necessarily makes sense as he quotes Woody Allen as saying “Nature and I are two”(Orr 3).  The issue with his first statement is that he says all humans are inherently bonded with nature.  Another problem that exist with what he says is that Woody Allen was born in the 1930s probably didn’t grow up with many of the modern things such as TV’s, Walkman’s and the other things mentioned.   There is many opinions, maybe even stereotypes within the reading. 

Although I don’t agree with many things in the reading, there is other things I can say directly affected my outlook on nature.  I think education is important in pushing this Biophilia revolution.   I believe this because my education in civil and environmental engineering has opened my eyes to a lot of issues.  Obviously as an engineer the environment is something we learn a lot about.  It allowed me to start taking into consideration everything. We learn a lot about how to design with the environment in consideration.  As an engineer we are one of the main professions which is responsible for human impact to the environment, as well as sustainability.  So throughout my education it made me start thinking about the great natural places in Southwest Florida we had I’ve lost since I was a kid.  And it seems as every year passes a great place is gone and we always think back to when we were a kid. This directly relates to what Orr calls “The recovery of childhood” (Orr p204).