Mother Nature’s Best

Having dealt last month with some of the worst tricks Mother Nature has played on people, perhaps we should look at what positive events she has directed our way.

Humans have always been at the mercy of natural forces and faced the brunt of disasters that killed many, but our development and progress as a species and civilization have also been aided by benevolent and timely changes to our environment.

Earth, Air, Water & Fire

These were the classical, and simple, elements of our world originally defined by the ancient Greeks but referred to by almost all pre-existing civilizations as well. They are, individually and in combination, part of what we refer to as Nature:

·         The earth offers us the means to grow our food and minerals to use in our daily lives.  

·         Water sustains life in all forms.

·         Air is necessary for life but is also part of the atmosphere which regulates the Earth’s temperature.

·         Fire was the energy that drove both the Sun, Earth’s systems and human assertiveness and passion.

Humans have learned to use all of the elements Mother Nature has provided.

Rivers

For most of civilized human existence, farming – of necessity – has been the major occupation. And, in order to achieve the highest productivity, fresh water is required. It is no surprise that people have chosen to live alongside rivers, in areas of fertile soils. These areas are located mostly in the floodplains of large rivers. Annually, springtime floods bring not only needed moisture but also nutrients in the form of organic matter and new soil to be deposited across broad parts of the valley floors. Year after year, farmers come to depend on the bounty brought by rivers.

 

Aerial photo of the Cauto River near Guamo Embarcadero, council of the municipality of Río Cauto, Cuba (downloaded from Wikimedia Commons) 

The water of rivers and oceans was also integral to transportation, allowing people to voyage in search of new trade opportunities and new lives. Both also had their own bounty in the form of food stuffs.

Warm is Good

The Sun provides life-sustaining warmth. Light (from the sun), in combination with water (from the ground) and carbon dioxide (from the air), is part of the natural process of photosynthesis which allows plants to respire, grow and reproduce. Plant material, of course, is a dominant part of the diets of almost all animals on Earth, including humans.

Over the centuries, the best farming conditions have been experienced during the warm climatic periods. During these times, extreme weather conditions were rare, rainfall fell in abundance during the growing seasons, summers were warm.

In each of the warm periods of the last 10,000 years – the Holocene period – living conditions were favourable, civilization prospered, and population grew.

 

Average near-surface temperatures of the Northern Hemisphere during the last 11,000 years based on analyses of the changes in 18O isotopes from Greenland ice cores. The diagram demonstrates the alternating periods of warm and cold that occurred throughout the Holocene Epoch. (reproduced from Shepheard: Surviving Mother Nature’s Tests)

Landscape Beauty

Over the centuries, the natural beauty of landscapes has inspired artists, musicians and philosophers. Social interaction expanded as sunny days, not always during summer months, allowed people to get outside and enjoy the benefits of nature as well as the company of each other.

 

Valley of the Ten Peaks and Moraine Lake, Banff National Park, Canada. (downloaded from Wikimedia Commons) 

Poets throughout history wrote of their experiences with Nature, contributions that brought joy and fascination to all those who read them. Many of these poems were written during the dark times of the Little Ice Age and Industrial Revolution when both cold conditions and dingy cities combined to produce dismal living conditions:

·         Frost – Stopping by a Woods on a Snowy Evening

·         Kipling – The Glory of the Garden

·         Masefield – Sea Fever

·         Nash – Winter Morning Poem

·         Tennyson – The Brook

·         Wordsworth – I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

Even the symbol we use in genealogical studies is from Mother Nature, with all of its beauty and imperfections: a Tree!

 

The Angel Ok Tree in South Carolina (downloaded from Wikimedia Commons) 

References

Shepheard, Wayne (2018). Surviving Mother Nature’s Tests: The effects climate change and other natural phenomena have had on the lives of our ancestors (with examples from the British Isles). St. Agnes, South Australia: Unlock the Past.