Environment: between subduing nature and guarding creation – the primal tension that shapes our world

Source: Two verses, two paths: humanity's dual mandate in the world

"God blessed them, and God said to them: Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every living creature that crawls upon the earth."

"The Lord God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden, to work it and to guard it."

(Genesis 1:28; 2:15)

Explanation: The verse that justified conquering the world – and the verse that was forgotten

The Genesis story is the primal mandate, the "charter" of Western civilization over the world. In this foundational verse, human beings are positioned not as part of nature, but above it. The verbs "subdue it" and "rule" grant religious and cultural legitimacy to taking over the world's resources. For thousands of years, this verse served as justification for deforestation, mining, and industrialization, born of the notion that the world was created to serve the "crown of creation"—while ignoring the verse in the very next chapter, where humanity's role is not to rule and exploit, but to work it and to guard creation.

Perspective: When humanity subdues nature, it subdues itself

Humanity subduing nature is, in fact, subduing itself, for better and for worse. The war against nature is waged through various tools: vaccines, the exploitation of resources, bringing order to natural chaos, eradicating diseases, and more. Yet at a certain point hubris sets in—the illusion that we can sever ourselves from nature. Prometheus stole fire from the gods to save humanity from freezing and death—a necessary, heroic act whose punishment was severe, before fire turned into a destructive weapon. Daedalus built wax wings to save his son, Icarus—a triumph of spirit over gravity—yet Icarus crashed when he defied the laws of the sun, which melted the wax. God commanded humanity to subdue the earth in order to repair the world, not to ruin it. As the midrash (rabbinic commentary) puts it (Kohelet Rabbah 7:13): "Everything I created, I created for you. Pay heed that you do not corrupt and destroy My world, for if you corrupt it, there is no one after you to repair it."

Going Deeper: The Anthropocene: humanity as a geological force

The scientific term for the current epoch, whose roots began over the last three hundred thousand years, is the Anthropocene—the age of humanity. Over time, geologists argue, humanity's footprint on Earth (in the climate and in the soil) has become so deep that it will remain visible in geological strata millions of years from now. For the first time, a single biological species has become a geological force, harnessing nature to its needs and whims, reshaping the planet. We are searching for a way to balance the control of nature for humanity's benefit with the control of humanity for nature's benefit.

Culture: Fallingwater: beauty, hubris, and nature's pushback

In the 1930s, the Kaufmann family sought to build a summer retreat in Pennsylvania, and commissioned the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright for the job. Known as "Fallingwater," modern architecture was no longer content with merely depicting nature; it sought to tame it. The famous home built in Pennsylvania stands as the pinnacle of both hubris and beauty in "subduing nature," one of the most important works of the twentieth century. Wright did not build the house facing the waterfall; he built the living room over it. The water rushes beneath your feet, framed by concrete and glass, as if to declare that within wild, untouched nature, there is room for a new nature: human nature. Anyone who has visited the home, now a museum and a site of pilgrimage, will speak in awe of this magnificent architectural marvel, but will not fail to mention that many areas of the house suffer from mold, dampness, and a constant need for repairs. Nature, much like our body's immune system, rejects foreign objects.