UK activists are campaigning to update the definition of the word ‘nature’ in the country’s dictionaries so that it includes humans, thereby acknowledging humanity’s role within the ecosystem. While it might once have been understandable to exclude humans from a definition related to nature, such terms now ignore the significant damage humans do to the environment by creating waste, emissions, and deforestation. Law firm Lawyers For Nature is partnering with interiors brand House of Hackney to run the #WeAreNature campaign in recognition of the fact that science shows humans are contributing to a loss of biodiversity and increased climate change.
The Collins Concise dictionary definition of nature reads: “Plant and animal life, as distinct from man.” However, campaigners believe that definitions that exclude humans ignore the impact of human activity on the planet. Academic, creative and political figures came together alongside schoolchildren to submit definitions for the campaign. Chris Packham, an environmentalist, said that nature is “the entire living world – it, them, me, you and us.” The campaigners hope the Oxford English Dictionary’s move to recognise a wider definition is a stepping stone to further recognition, and have written to several other major UK dictionaries to encourage them to include people within the definition of nature.
Campaign consultant Jessie Mond Wedd said that the aim of the campaign is to ensure that nature is recognised as an interdependent system in which humanity’s fate is also inextricably bound up. The hope is that if people recognise this, they will choose to act in more environmentally-friendly ways. Packham said that “we have separated ourselves from nature and see ourselves as exceptional rather than interdependent on nature, and this is a root cause of our behaviour as a species towards our natural world.” House of Hackney co-founder Frieda Gormley said she hopes that signing the campaign’s petition can “reconnect” people with nature.
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