A reality check July 13, 2021 When we were first able to view, and photograph, the Earth from space, our planetary perspective changed. Suddenly ‘home’ had a whole new meaning. Nowhere, as far as our technology has been able to discern, is there evidence of any planet like Earth – anywhere else that can sustain life as we know it. In its recent 11,700-year period of climatic stability, that is what our planetary home has done, facilitating the spread and technological advance of human civilization. While benefiting many in terms of material comfort, life expectancy and societal support structures, this advance has increasingly taken place within a framework of thought that perceives nature as “other” – a resource to be exploited, or a foe to be conquered. The Oxford English Dictionary even defines nature as “opposed to humans”.