Is the land hostile to us, or are we hostile to nature?

Tierra hostil. Piedra seca. La naturaleza desafía a la humanidad. En Ecuador, probably in the early 1960s, two children in a harsh climate they did not choose. We are a wandering species since we left Africa hundreds of thousands of years ago. Où allons-nous et que voulons-nous? Originally, we were part of the land and worked with nature, as evident among many Indigenous people still living in many places across the planet. Mais pourquoi sommes-nous allés dans des endroits comme l’Arctique ou dans les déserts? Because we are a migratory, settler species with no specially carved ecological niche like a toad, goldfish, or moose. So, it seems odd to say that natura est hostilis provocatio. No. Nature has evolved and adapted – from microbes and mammals to plants and insects – over many millennia, in fact longer than we’ve been around. What’s cruel is how the modern human mind seeks ways to conquer nature; this began in earnest over the past few hundred years with machinery and is still evident today in many countries. Instead of trabajando con the natural world, we deforest, deflate, drain, and destroy. The Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset says: “Yo soy yo y mi circunstancia, y si no la salvo a ella no me salvo yo.” We created the climate crisis of global warming, mudslides, desertification, and intense storms.  Why is global warming not the number one story, the main concern, of the powerful and rich who can effectuate the sustainable change we need? Why are politicians, especially in the U.S., ignoring and even encouraging the devastation occurring under their watch?