Using Nature Efficiently
             Man's relationship and treatment of nature, in terms of the outdoors, has changed dramatically over time. This change has been almost directly related to how man relies on nature to survive. The problem has been deciding if our treatment of nature is appropriate and fair to all of which nature impacts. Do humans have the right to use nature in a way that meets our needs and wants, but takes away from those of animals? Human's relationship and treatment of nature should correspond to our society's needs and goals, taking from nature only what we need and trying to address the needs of everyone affected.
             Our society's increased urbanizations and industrialization worldwide has decreased our direct dependency on nature to survive. In turn, our relationship with nature has changed dramatically. Barry Lopez is a writer known for his nature essays. In "The American Geographies," he describes this change of dependency by saying, "it has only been in the last few hundred years or so that a people could afford to ignore their local geographies as completely as we do and still survive" (152). This quote emphasizes the lack of a personal relationship with nature that most of us possess today. A thousand years ago, man used the earth to attain all needs for survival; food, clothing, and shelter were all derived from pure forms of nature unaltered by any synthetic processes that we use today. They grew all of their food and made shelters and clothing from natural substances using tools made of elements found directly in nature. But they still used and took from nature what they needed to survive, just in a different way than we do today.
             These people of ancient times used nature in a respectable way, taking only what they needed to survive and leaving plenty for the natural environment around them. But their small population and nomadic lifestyl...