Philosophy Wire: Branson, lemurs and Balance

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2011-04-17]: The billionaire Branson's plan to introduce lemurs in his Caribbean island, has caused the reactions of environmentalists [source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13095307]. When a flock of locusts dissolves hundreds of kilometers of crops, we do not give much attention apart from recording the phenomenon so as to see it on Discovery Channel. But when a person changes residence to ten primates, the balance of Nature seems to be altered. How wrongly do we understand our place in the cosmos? Why not consider humans as part of nature and our acts as an integral part of it? Why should a disaster which dissolves whole pieces of continents be named "completely natural", but a small energy of a single man be named a "threat to Nature? " How arrogant are we to consider man so powerful as to destroy Nature? How stupid must we be to believe Nature so vulnerable and fragile?

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