While the secret hiking trail of Lei Tung can be a hidden gem and a relaxing getaway for the weekend, for many others, nature is not always all fun and games.
Man received 5 stitches after wild boars attack; cow in Pui O died with stomach full of plastic; monkeys robbed another hikers’ food… In a more recent case, a man was attacked by wild boars after hurling stones at them. These unpleasant incidents are just the tip of the iceberg of the constant conflicts between men and the nature in this compacted city.
One for all, all for one
For a long time in human history, people have – and many still do – let ourselves sit in the center of the world and make the environment work around us. This is the anthropocentric (also called egocentric) mentality.
We humans often attempt to reshape and alter the environment at will. We clear pieces of land to build houses for our own kind. We channelize rivers and build dams to control the water flow. We spray insecticide in urban parks so that we are free from mosquito bites. Sometimes we are so used to controlling the environment that we even forget human are merely one single member of all species.
And for a long time, there was seemingly no backlash for fondling with the environment. When the industrial revolution commenced in the western world in 1700s, the factories were making tons of air-borne pollutants, but there was plenty of room to buffer in the atmosphere. Hydraulic cement became popular and cities pushed further into the forest. One could catch as many fish as one wished. Mining companies could dig deeper and find new mines. Trees were sheets of gold. We thought we could exploit the environment forever – until we couldn’t anymore.
While the White House is still in denial about global warming, the rest of the world is becoming increasingly aware of climate change and the fact that humans cannot always contain nature after all. In order to co-exist sustainably, humans need to revolve around nature, and not the other way around.