steve wrote:
>
> I find the idea irrational that somehow "humans" are not a component 
> of "nature" including all the ways we adapt our environment  and that 
> for example, when beavers build dams and modify their environment, 
> that's natural, but when humans build dams and modify their 
> environment, that is somehow  "unnatural."  Refusing to adapt one's 
> environment, that truly is unnatural.
>
Of course we are an essential part of nature, for instance I plan to eat 
my neighbours; beavers that build dams and modify *our* environment by 
killing trees and flooding the road.
They make an open glade in an otherwise dense forest, and use the cut 
trees to build their house and dam, the open area then supports life 
that deer & hawks and other creatures find to be edible. Same as us.
It is a question of quantity - now there are too many beavers here, some 
say there are too many people elsewhere.

Then there is the unconsidered question of what kind of people - 
different races might create different environments. For instance north 
europeans like open areas in forests, others might prefer a different 
environment.

William