Mother Nature is Awesome — But Is She Impervious to Damage?

Every time I hear intelligent people refute the idea of global warming based on the power of Mother Nature I really can’t believe my ears.

Last week, I spoke with three people who appeared bright enough, all of whom told me that humans simply don’t have the power to screw up a force as powerful as nature. As proof, one of these guys, on a live radio interview in front of 70,000 listeners, said, “Hey, the temperature of the planet was changing long before the Industrial Revolution.” Another pointed out that the BP oil spill was overhyped, because microbes instantly began eating the oil.  In agreement, the third fellow pointed to the video footage of the Japanese tsunami – testimony to the awesome force of the natural world. 

Sure nature is awesome. And just as sure, it doesn’t need people; if it had conscious awareness, I’m sure it would be thrilled to see us erased from the face of the globe. But I’m at a loss to understand how, regardless of its power, that anyone could think it’s impervious to damage from mankind’s ceaseless pumping out toxins, deforestation, strip-mining, fracking, ocean dumping, changing the make-up of our atmosphere, and so forth. Is it really hard to believe that our practices are making it tough for Mother Nature to support life here?