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Charles Darwin introduced natural selection to the world in 1838. In his book, The Origin of Species he explains a logical reason for the immense specie diversity of planet Earth. What he uncovered was the process of evolution where only the strongest survive, or survival of the fittest. This applies to all animals and especially to humans. Humans are selfish, they want to be the best, the richest, and the most famous. This isn’t anything bad against humans, I mean it’s ingrained into us from birth; we want to be the ones to pass on our genes and keep our family heritage alive. Natural selection has made humans what they are today. People weren’t endowed with huge claws or menacing teeth; and we didn’t need them. We have an intelligent brain, and we are forced to use our brain to invent tools to help our shortcomings.
This was a long time ago, and many things have changed. We have created such modern conveniences that it no longer matters who is the strongest or who has the biggest teeth, we all survive equally and even the weak are able to reproduce. Because there is no need to compete with one another, why are humans still selfish? Why do they strive so hard to be the best at the expense of everything else?
A great example of this can be seen in the study of the last 100 years and the introduction of cars. Now, humans could go almost anywhere, with little effort, very comfortably. The gas was endless and the roads were a little bit rocky. Over time, people created faster, more inefficient, and more pollution ridden cars than ever. Now with the dawning of the 21st century, people are just beginning to notice how this manmade invention is negatively affecting every living thing around us. The environment has to soak up all the emissions, the herds of buffalo are now cut off from their land by the network of highways that so carelessly divide our nation, and the precious gas that runs these machines is quickly running out. The car seemed like a good idea, and it is; but the process by which it was created is very harmful.
This is the root, or essence, of environmentalism. One has to force themselves to erase this primal instinct and think about something bigger than personal gain. What can be bigger than the other 99% of living creatures that co-inhabit our earth? Humans have evolved away from only being concerned with helping ourselves, to now having room to think about larger issues like the plants and animals we live with every single day.
