The Bible declares that man is the pinnacle of God's creation. Metaphorically, this may be true (at least with regard to brain power), though the six-day time frame is a bit short.
Life first appeared in the primordial seas of Earth some 3.6 billion years ago and would not come ashore until 450 million years ago; humans did not evolve until 130,000 years ago. Our species spread beyond Africa about 80,000 years ago, encountering the diverse, pristine ecosystems of our home planet. For most of our time on Earth, humans were components of those ecosystems, just another species in nature's web of life.
Then, about 10,000 years ago, we bit into the proverbial apple and our Garden of Eden began to disintegrate. Cultivation and domestication were our initial assaults on nature, occurring in concert with the development of permanent settlements. Eventually, the Industrial Revolution greatly accelerated our impact on the planet and, today, we struggle to remedy the damage that we have wrought. To paraphrase Joni Mitchell, returning to the Garden may be our only means of salvation.
