Profoundly Understanding the Multiple Relations in Ecological …
487
But a good ecological environment doesn’t equal ecological civilization. Ecology
is a natural state, civilization is social progress, and the combination of them—
ecological civilization—is a harmonious state between man and nature. Civilization
prospers when ecology prospers. Ecological civilization not only features a sound
ecological environment, but also a sound cultural civilization. Some impoverished
regions in the world have great ecological environment, but the people there have
to slash and burn wood because of extreme shortage of materials, which leads to
water and soil loss and ecological deterioration, which in return worsens poverty,
hence the vicious cycle of “poverty—ecological deterioration—poverty.” Only when
ecological environment and cultural civilization proceed in parallel can ecological
civilization last long.
2 Relation Between Ecological Civilization and Traditional
Civilizations
The human civilization is evolving all the time. In terms of time, human civilization
has passed the primitive civilization, agricultural civilization and industrial civilization. Ecological civilization is an inheritance of traditional civilizations while
discarding the backwardness and making innovations of its own.
Man has been dependent on nature since the day it was born. In primitive society,
man lived by simple productive activities such as collecting, fishing and hunting and
could only survive by living in groups, so it evolved together with other creatures and
the environment in general. It was only in modern times that man began to shake off
the regional restrictions from nature and its ecological conditions. The emergence
and use of iron ware marked a substantial leap forward in human ability to utilize and
reform nature and pushed human society to the age of agricultural civilization. The
extinction of the ancient Egypt, ancient Babylon and America’s Maya could perhaps
be ascribed to excessive grazing, land reclamation and blind irrigation.
Agricultural civilization represents the time-honored history and splendid civilization of China, and a natural environmental friendliness is the precondition for
the uninterrupted agricultural civilization or Chinese civilization for thousands of
years. After the People’s Republic of China was founded, a major challenge facing
us was how to carry on our fine traditions while proceeding with socioeconomic
modernization, and blaze out a path of industrialization and urbanization featuring
the harmonious co-existence between man and nature. From agricultural modernization in the beginning of new China to urbanization of rural areas after reform
and opening-up and to the new model of industrialization and urbanization in recent
years, it seems we are still in the mindset of “catching up with” modernization.
The Industrial Revolution in Britain lifted the curtain on the age of industrial civilization, the rise of which prompted the human society to gradually “forget” natural
laws and restrictions and pursue a universal (regardless of region), all-time (regardless
of season) and unbridled (without restraint) development overriding the restrictions
487
But a good ecological environment doesn’t equal ecological civilization. Ecology
is a natural state, civilization is social progress, and the combination of them—
ecological civilization—is a harmonious state between man and nature. Civilization
prospers when ecology prospers. Ecological civilization not only features a sound
ecological environment, but also a sound cultural civilization. Some impoverished
regions in the world have great ecological environment, but the people there have
to slash and burn wood because of extreme shortage of materials, which leads to
water and soil loss and ecological deterioration, which in return worsens poverty,
hence the vicious cycle of “poverty—ecological deterioration—poverty.” Only when
ecological environment and cultural civilization proceed in parallel can ecological
civilization last long.
2 Relation Between Ecological Civilization and Traditional
Civilizations
The human civilization is evolving all the time. In terms of time, human civilization
has passed the primitive civilization, agricultural civilization and industrial civilization. Ecological civilization is an inheritance of traditional civilizations while
discarding the backwardness and making innovations of its own.
Man has been dependent on nature since the day it was born. In primitive society,
man lived by simple productive activities such as collecting, fishing and hunting and
could only survive by living in groups, so it evolved together with other creatures and
the environment in general. It was only in modern times that man began to shake off
the regional restrictions from nature and its ecological conditions. The emergence
and use of iron ware marked a substantial leap forward in human ability to utilize and
reform nature and pushed human society to the age of agricultural civilization. The
extinction of the ancient Egypt, ancient Babylon and America’s Maya could perhaps
be ascribed to excessive grazing, land reclamation and blind irrigation.
Agricultural civilization represents the time-honored history and splendid civilization of China, and a natural environmental friendliness is the precondition for
the uninterrupted agricultural civilization or Chinese civilization for thousands of
years. After the People’s Republic of China was founded, a major challenge facing
us was how to carry on our fine traditions while proceeding with socioeconomic
modernization, and blaze out a path of industrialization and urbanization featuring
the harmonious co-existence between man and nature. From agricultural modernization in the beginning of new China to urbanization of rural areas after reform
and opening-up and to the new model of industrialization and urbanization in recent
years, it seems we are still in the mindset of “catching up with” modernization.
The Industrial Revolution in Britain lifted the curtain on the age of industrial civilization, the rise of which prompted the human society to gradually “forget” natural
laws and restrictions and pursue a universal (regardless of region), all-time (regardless
of season) and unbridled (without restraint) development overriding the restrictions