Ecological Civilization in a Historical Perspective
547
In the fourth stage, starting from around the mid-eighteenth century, the human
society experienced four technological-industrial revolutions through superposition,
acceleration or even leap forward, almost changing everything on earth in a short
span of over 200 years. Today human activities have replaced natural forces to be the
main driver of environmental changes, prompting geologists to announce the arrival
of an “anthropocene.”
History tells us that environmental problems have never stopped emerging since
the day man came into being, and have keep increasing after ape evolved into man.
However, environmental problems in different periods varied vastly in representation and influence, with profound differences between then and now. In the age of
collecting and hunting, earth was barely populated, tools were extremely simple, and
man with obscure consciousness wandered without a settlement. They were hardly
able to adapt to, much less disturb nature, had no advantage when struggling with
poisonous insects or beasts for food or shelter, and their lives were in constant danger.
Therefore, natural worship and animism were prevalent then. In the agricultural age,
man, with a stronger self-consciousness, began to think of their relation with nature
and believed in man’s conquest of and rapport with nature at the same time. At
that time, planting and animal breeding were the main form of economic production, social life followed the natural course, and eco-environment was little polluted.
However, blind and disorderly resource exploitation and environmental modification
had already resulted in resource depletion, water system disorder, water and soil loss
and land fertility exhaustion in local areas, and ancient civilizations perished one
after another. In the recent 200 years and more, Industrial Revolution and Technological Revolution have dramatically empowered mankind. Motivated by material
consumption and a desire for profits, man, armed with powerful technologies, has
treated nature and its inhabitants roughly and recklessly, completely upending the
life system on earth. Over time, man seemed to have forgotten who they were and
where they came from. As man was mentally estranged from nature and their behaviors devastated nature, the conflict between man and nature quickly exacerbated and
civilization development slipped into a serious dilemma. Therefore, it was no surprise
that the human ability that was in no way restricted by ecological morality backfired
at man itself through nature’s harsh revenge, posing ever more serious challenges to
social and economic development and life health and safety.
More than 100 years ago, Engels issued a clear warning, “…Let us not, however,
flatter ourselves overmuch on account of our human conquest over nature. For each
such conquest takes its revenge on us. Each of them, it is true, has in the first place
the consequences on which we counted, but in the second and third places it has quite
different, unforeseen effects which only too often cancel out the first.” “…Thus at
every step we are reminded that we by no means rule over nature like a conqueror
over a foreign people, like someone standing outside nature – but that we, with flesh,
blood, and brain, belong to nature, and exist in its midst, and that all our mastery of
it consists in the fact that we have the advantage over all other beings of being able
to know and correctly apply its laws.”
547
In the fourth stage, starting from around the mid-eighteenth century, the human
society experienced four technological-industrial revolutions through superposition,
acceleration or even leap forward, almost changing everything on earth in a short
span of over 200 years. Today human activities have replaced natural forces to be the
main driver of environmental changes, prompting geologists to announce the arrival
of an “anthropocene.”
History tells us that environmental problems have never stopped emerging since
the day man came into being, and have keep increasing after ape evolved into man.
However, environmental problems in different periods varied vastly in representation and influence, with profound differences between then and now. In the age of
collecting and hunting, earth was barely populated, tools were extremely simple, and
man with obscure consciousness wandered without a settlement. They were hardly
able to adapt to, much less disturb nature, had no advantage when struggling with
poisonous insects or beasts for food or shelter, and their lives were in constant danger.
Therefore, natural worship and animism were prevalent then. In the agricultural age,
man, with a stronger self-consciousness, began to think of their relation with nature
and believed in man’s conquest of and rapport with nature at the same time. At
that time, planting and animal breeding were the main form of economic production, social life followed the natural course, and eco-environment was little polluted.
However, blind and disorderly resource exploitation and environmental modification
had already resulted in resource depletion, water system disorder, water and soil loss
and land fertility exhaustion in local areas, and ancient civilizations perished one
after another. In the recent 200 years and more, Industrial Revolution and Technological Revolution have dramatically empowered mankind. Motivated by material
consumption and a desire for profits, man, armed with powerful technologies, has
treated nature and its inhabitants roughly and recklessly, completely upending the
life system on earth. Over time, man seemed to have forgotten who they were and
where they came from. As man was mentally estranged from nature and their behaviors devastated nature, the conflict between man and nature quickly exacerbated and
civilization development slipped into a serious dilemma. Therefore, it was no surprise
that the human ability that was in no way restricted by ecological morality backfired
at man itself through nature’s harsh revenge, posing ever more serious challenges to
social and economic development and life health and safety.
More than 100 years ago, Engels issued a clear warning, “…Let us not, however,
flatter ourselves overmuch on account of our human conquest over nature. For each
such conquest takes its revenge on us. Each of them, it is true, has in the first place
the consequences on which we counted, but in the second and third places it has quite
different, unforeseen effects which only too often cancel out the first.” “…Thus at
every step we are reminded that we by no means rule over nature like a conqueror
over a foreign people, like someone standing outside nature – but that we, with flesh,
blood, and brain, belong to nature, and exist in its midst, and that all our mastery of
it consists in the fact that we have the advantage over all other beings of being able
to know and correctly apply its laws.”