- Question
Can nature heal itself?
Humans and their industry have created a huge amount of damage to nature, the environment, and the planet. Mass extinction, climate change, and more. But if humans step back can nature heal itself, or do humans need to engage to fix things?
Yes, nature can heal itself
Proponents argue that recovery is what ecosystems do once a pressure is removed. Given the end of the cause and enough time, they hold, colonisation, succession and population growth rebuild a working system without any need for human management.
No Nature cannot heal itself
On this view much of the damage already done cannot be undone by any natural process. Proponents point to losses that are permanent, such as extinction, and to degraded states that now maintain themselves, concluding that deliberate repair is required.
It depends, nature can sometimes heal itself
This position distinguishes between kinds of damage. Proponents argue that nature recovers reliably from disturbances of a sort it has met before, while novel damage, lost species and crossed thresholds leave systems that cannot return unaided.