Figuratively, Nature is boss because she provides all the things. She’s her own woman. She makes all her own air and water. And she’s nice enough to let us use them any time we want. Which is… so boss.
But technically, Nature is boss because she could sneeze us off the planet with one leaky volcano. Humans think we are in control, but we’re not. Nature will be around a lot longer than we will and no human is telling a hurricane what it’s agenda should be.
It’s hard to pin down the best thing about Nature. The flowers? Those are great. Baby mammals? Absolutely. All those trees that capture light and turn it into midcentury modern cabinets? You couldn’t pay us to decide!
Caring about nature isn’t for nature’s sake. (Although, the elephants and the rhinos could use a good lawyer.) Caring for and understanding nature’s patterns helps us to help ourselves! Science has come to prove a lot of awesome things about nature. Scientists have proven that just being in nature can boost your mood and improve your mental health. In addition, Stanford University proved that spending A LOT of time in nature can reduce stress and lead to a lower risk of depression.
Nature has a tool for just about everything. Her plants heal and nourish our bodies, her mushrooms can can eat through plastic and regenerate our most toxic soils and her trees clean our air and water systems.
We could solve a lot of major issues if our species was better connected to nature. And we think it’s maybe the most important principle. Mostly because without her we would die. And also because to understand nature is to better understand ourselves.