The Friction Between People and Nature

When I travel, I tend to observe the friction between man and nature wherever I go. In each destination I find myself in, even if it is domestic or outbound travelling, I pay attention to how the local community impacted the environment. Below, I described the influence people have over their surroundings and the effects nature has on people in Amsterdam after conducting some field research.

There are several reasons why people interact with nature. Everyone enjoys spending time outdoors in a beautiful, calming, refreshing and inspirational environment. In urban areas, most places fitting the description are parks. The parks in a city mean a lot to society, especially to nature lovers.

There are many ways people interact with nature in a park, such as having a walk or a picnic, playing sports, reading or walking the dog. All these interactions can be done with or without harming flora and fauna of the park. Here is when humans’ conscience comes into the discussion. The effects people have on nature depend on everyone’s free will.

In the park I visited for this research, there were three ways people impacted the environment: changes they made so their experiences in the park would be more pleasant, changes they made to help the environment, and negatively affect the environment.

Changes people made so their experiences in the park would be more pleasant:

To make their experiences more pleasant in parks, people built bridges, tables, benches, statues, sports fields and many other elements. People consider these to be positive aspects of humans’ influence on nature. When asked what their opinion about these elements is, people said that these “improvements” are acceptable as long as they do not contribute to pollution or damaging the environment.

Changes people made so they would help the environment:

When asked, people in the park showed happiness about the area's elements to help develop flora and fauna. There are small things that encourage the remarkable growth of the plants and safety for the animals.

People's negative impact on the environment:

People can easily affect the environment in adverse manners. Pollution is the main issue when it comes to the harmful effects of man over nature. Throwing the trash around, on the grass, on the paths in a park contributes to significantly destroying the natural area. When asked, all people said they were against this kind of behaviour and that everyone should maintain the site in good shape.

There are many ways people influence nature, both positive and negative ways. All visitors to the park showed interest in the natural environment of their city. The friction between man and nature is inevitable nowadays, but people should decrease its harm to wildlife.