Before man was man he was part of what he now calls nature.
When he began to talk to others and then to himself he separated himself from nature and began an epochal struggle to alter the world in order to better his own llife.
The relationship between man and nature has always been ambivalent. From the moment when man created a word for beauty nature must have been his first love.
For many thousands of years man has worshiped nature while gradually destroying it.
Now we are near a breaking point in our relationship. In only the last 300 years we have gained the power to destroy our home. It is ironic that our technology allows us to view the entire earth from space before destroying it.
As the ghost of Christmas future said in a Christmas Carol, this may not happen but like Scrooge we must change our ways quickly.