We humans have all these big ideas, plans and activities about improving the world. We build skyscrapers and rockets and tremendous highways. When confronted with troubling problems that result from our activities, we have big ideas, plans and activities to fix what’s broke or destroyed.

There seems to be a lack of faith in the successful natural design of our planet, the interweaving of species, weather, terrain, plants and trees. There have been natural disasters across the millennia, such as hurricanes and eruptions of volcanoes and collisions with meteors of varying sizes. But in that distant history, human activity plays only a small part of the healing and recovery. There is a system of recovery already in place that integrates all life forms and weather and other factors present on earth.

During the drought and other catastrophes of this past decade, I’ve worried like many others. I’ve also watched nature patching itself back together here and there. Squirrels planting pecans and acorns as trees wither around them, the trees shading seedlings of the future from the heat and drying wind.

Our own self-destructive behavior (such as leaking oil and chemicals into the waters, use and testing of bombs, chemicals such as defoliating agents, fracking and breaking down the mountains and river beds) worries me more. We're not only self-destructive, but destructive of the homes the many other animals depend upon. Humans may be a part of the overall design of the planet, but our rate of modernization has surpassed our understanding of what is right, and our natural ways of cohabiting with other life. Our technology and oversized equipment have grown faster than our judgment can keep up. When we change things in a big way, even in an attempt to fix what is breaking, there is no way to know in advance all the consequences. We unintentionally step on the toes of our fellow inhabitants.

Before we give up hope, there are tried and true safer ways to be a part of natural recovery.

As humans, it’s good to step outdoors and breathe where for thousands of years we’ve survived within the fabric of nature. It’s possibly safest and most successful to be a connected part of the great interweaving of life rather than to isolate ourselves in buildings, trying to dominate the earth, forcing change on nature’s beautiful, durable, and near perfect system. Together we are heroes, the trees and grasses producing oxygen, the humans and all the other animals and rain showers and flowers and fishes that go into the formula of life.

It’s helpful to use our senses to their fullest, to be one with nature around us, to be a part of the great and powerful networking of the amazing earth, without trying to take over or interfere with that remarkable healing process. From the ants to the elephants, all have intertwining roles.