The fate of nature and human beings are intertwined. As human beings, we are dependent upon nature on our survival as it provides us the things that we need as well as harm us if we do not take care of nature. If we nurture nature, it will nourish us and will provide us the food and the things we need to live but nature could also be destructive if we do not take care of it or misuse her.
The intertwined fate of nature is seen in the case of McCandless who spent years of itinerant travel wondering with little or no money with the only intent to “walk into the wild” (Krakauer). When he decided to live in the wilderness alone just to check if he can do it, he indeed was able to do it as nature provided him with the things that he needed. He hunted and sought edible plants that provided him food. But he also experienced the ravage of nature during extreme weather. Surviving on his first try of living on the wilderness, McCandless again tried to do it in April of 1992. This time however, nature is no longer as forgiving as before because McCandless misused nature by eating a mold seed where its poison made him weak. Such, he was unable to hunt and gather food for himself in the wilderness until he died in the bus where he lived.
The experience of McCandless itinerant travel showed how intertwined the fate of humans and nature. in this kind of relationship however, it is the humans who depends on nature as nature do not need humans to exist. If humans will misuse or abuse nature, it could also harm him or her such as in the case of McCandless.
- Jon Krakauer. Into the wild Jon Krakauer: teachers guide. Perma-Bound Books, 2007.