In my latest reading of Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit,
Al Gore talks about addiction and human dysfunction. What's this have
to do with the environment? Gore ties these things into the environment
by saying that our exploitation of resources is addictive and reflects
our dysfunction. And Gore believes that a significant part of the
problem is that we have lost our connection with nature.
Gore
distances himself from environmentalists who are anti-human, for he
believes that humans can co-exist with nature if their attitudes are
changed. In my latest reading, he could have elaborated more on how we
are disconnected from nature, or what connection with nature would look
like. But I can speculate about what he means. For one, nature is
beautiful and can inspire us. But, two, it's important spiritually to
have an attitude of humility, and what corresponds with this is humans
not seeing themselves and their own wants as the end-all-be-all, but
realizing that they share the earth with plants and animals, who have
value in their own right.