We could be destroyed by a biological entity, such as a fast spreading outbreak of disease with sudden impacts and huge casualties, as well as the long-term impacts of climate change. Therefore, it is now the right time to reflect on our approach to nature.

Aug. 10 has been established by the Environment and Forestry Ministry as National Nature Conservation Day. It’s a day when we can reflect back on our efforts to conserve nature in Indonesia.

We are currently in a giant storm of the human journey on earth. For the last 12 months, we have been experiencing a series of very dramatic occurrences. We witnessed a parade of events such as forest and land fires in Australia, America and Indonesia, locust attacks in Africa and India and the most terrifying COVID-19 pandemic.

These events clearly illustrate our interdependence with the earth's web of life. We might arrive at a very existential question: what is the value of human beings on this planet?

As the most intelligent creature on earth and at the top level of the food chain, humans exploit nature and change every trace of the face of the earth. Industrialization and globalization have truly united us as a race for prosperity. However, globalization may also serve as a means of spreading and developing negative biological components (for humans). The COVID-19 pandemic is a real example.

Andrew Nikiforuk in Pandemonium says the invasion of infectious diseases on a global scale is due to three supporting factors: the global economy, population density (especially big cities) and high levels of human mobility.

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