Biophilia: definition

Biophilia can be defined as a desire for people to be one or close with nature. They say this is evident in the keeping of pets or in the fact that people on the market for real estate tend to spend more for property with a nice view. I never knew myself to be a person with a keen interest in nature. I was never a woman of the outdoors, never had the desire to camp or fish as a kid or to watch Animal Planet. Then one day I remember walking into Sea World and seeing a beautiful polar bear. I was mesmerized by the grace of it's stroke as it swam in front of me. Somehow the pale beauty of its fur allowed me to perceive it as fragile and harmless. From that point on I was fascinated by the polar bear. It's life, it's habits, all of it. Along the way it seemed that anything related to the environment started to slap my face; in magazines, on television, at work even. I am amazed by the way our environment works to sustain life. We get so much from it: medicine, biodiversity, photosynthesis!

I wish the world could go back to the simple days. Where we didn't have a need to acquire so much stuff and with that need destroy precious land by chopping down trees for oil, and to develop, develop, develop. The world when more money was spent on a sustainable and healthy meal rather than our need to pump antibiotics into cows and chicken again to produce more, more, just a little more. When the kids would play ball in the backyards, or play at the playground. Remember picnics in the park? How about living in a world when alligators didn't become asexual because of all the chemicals streaming down our rivers that act to disrupt hormones and cause strange physical reactions. What about a world where humanitarianism is widespread and respected and there's no need to exploit developing countries? A world where people had integrity and the government realized that Americans consume much more than any other country and act accordingly to reduce greenhouse emissions.

Biophilia... I feel it in my daily walks with my dogs, my hikes, my trips to Sea World, and my actions to act as a band-aid to our beautiful awe-inspiring environment!!