Cristian Lopez

The Natural World Essay

The beauty of animals, especially “bugs” or “creepy-crawlies” are often
overlooked in today’s world. People and animals have been together for so long,
that any acknowledging of the other’s presence, and their importance, has long
vanished. What makes this matter worse is that these animals are often falsely
accused for doing things they haven’t done, they are often undervalued, and they
are also unappreciated for the things they do for the human population. If the
pieces written by Andrew C. Revkin, Margaret Atwood, and Jane Goodall are all
true, it will not be long before the beautiful world we live takes a drastic turn for the
worse. Poor animals, as usual, will get the blame for the damages humans have
done to the planet.

The relationships between men and snakes have always had a special bond
in them. At first, men love the snakes, but soon enough, they realize they cannot
control nature, and their love for snakes starts vanishing. In his blog "Emma Marris:
In Defense of Everglade Pythons,” Andrew C. Revkin works very hard to try to
make men realize the things they are doing wrong. The first major challenge
Revkin introduces in his blog make us realize that people are focusing on what the
problem is, and instead, they should be focused on what caused it and what can
be done to fix the problem. Revkin mentions how “...these snakes, which are just
doing what they evolved to do as they pig out on the native fauna.” This one line
by itself makes us realize that snakes will be snakes, and they will always seek to
find food, so they cannot be blamed for the things they are doing. At that point,
others might start saying how they would be the “invasive species” and start
playing the blame game, but in the end, it is not the pythons’ fault. As Revkin said,
“It is our fault for introducing them.” Although it might be hard to face, it is crucial
we face the fact that all the problems with the Burmese Pythons in the Everglades
started where we would not like to admit, with men. In the end, Revkin makes it
clear that any “wiping out” of the pythons in the Everglades is impossible. Instead,
we should “…learn to love he pythons rather than revile them.” Loving them is
different from adoring them, so certain areas should be protected for the animals
we want to preserve, and in the process, we would control the population of the
pythons. Too much time and money should not be spent in trying to get rid of the
pythons, since “…the Everglades will probably be underwater in a few generations
anyway, thanks to climate-change induced sea level rise.” To Revkin, it does not
matter how hard we try to hide the horrors that we do, the acts we do will always
break through and the monstrosity of the human population will shine through.

Touching the same note of animals being treated like something they are
not, bats are often, if not always, undervalued for what they really are. People hear
bats and some horrific movie scene or something similar pops into their head, and
that must change. In her wonderful short story My Life as a Bat, Margaret Atwood
opens a totally different perspective about life and bats. Humans always see bats
as something that is very dangerous, but they fail to realize that the dangerous
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ones in this world are humans themselves. Atwood makes her idea understood
when she says that in one of her nightmares she is “clinging to the ceiling” while
there was a “red-faced man in white shorts and a white V-necked T-shirt” and she
says he was “… hitting at me with a tennis racket.” Although people always
victimize themselves when facing a bat, they fail to notice that things are way
worse for the bat. Atwood also makes sure to let the reader know how
inconsiderate the people are when it comes to other living things. In the
perspective of a bat, she says the “Whoever said that light was light and darkness
nothing? For some of us, the mythologies are different.” We all have the thought
and were made to believe that bats are evil creatures, when obviously, it is the
human population that is the real monster. We learn that bats are just like humans
are supposed to, looking for “food as all do, and for health and for the increase of
our kind; and for deliverance from evil.” Without knowing it, the humans are
impeding the bats from achieving something that will not harm us. Instead of being
destructive and inconsiderate, we should help them grow as we wish to be helped.

Relationships between animals shouldn’t change depending on what the

animal is. Sadly, it happens all the time, and sometimes it is for the better. A
scientist and writer of Hope for Animals and Their World Jane Goodall argues that
animals are not accredited for the things they do for the human population.
Animals, simply because of the way they look, get treated differently. A perfect
example of the hypocrisy of humans is presented when she says that some (bugs)
“…such as butterflies, are admired and loved for their beauty (though people tend
to be less interested in or even repelled by their caterpillars.” This line by Goodall
shows how humans prefer to see the beauty in another living organism as it is, and
not what it had to go through to get there. As it is commonly known, the best things
in life must go through a process to get there. Bugs in general have basically been
labeled as “bad” because of the wrongdoings of some of them, such as
“mosquitoes, tsetse flies, fleas, and ticks,” which all do things that are unpleasing
to humans, like destroying farms and carrying diseases. Does that make it tight for
people to hate all bugs? OF COURSE NOT! The truth is, we depend on some
animals and bugs for us to survive, like the American burying beetle, and people
can peacefully live by their sides. These beetles, are the bugs which are
responsible for “recycling decaying animals,” and they are the ones that “return
nutrients to the earth, which stimulates the growth of plants.” Without these bugs
that people dislike so much, the earth we live in might not be able to provide the
necessary nutrients and oxygen for living organism to be able to live. These
beetles are so important, that some people have been involved in the effort to
restore their population, which is in a critical condition. But what is the problem?
The problem is not being able to make adults understand the importance of
beetles. Goodall tells us how as kids, we would look at bugs and we would “…hold
real fascination for them.” If adults in this world were to do the same thing, all
animals would be more appreciated in this world.
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Adults in society need to learn to understand that for the world to be

functional, they must learn to appreciate all the things that animals do for their
benefit. Instead of shunning them and turning away from them, people should
instead become focused on helping the earth by maintaining its natural world,
made up of people, and oddly enough, animals and bugs. By becoming
responsible for the things they do, appreciating everything that animals do for
them, and valuing the things that animals do for them, humans will finally
understand that for the natural world to maintain its stability, people and animals
must learn to live together peacefully, only then will the peace with nature be
obtained.