The Great Theft is a free chapter from Reconnection: Fixing our Broken Relationship with Nature which was published by Pelagic 25 April. Reconnection is split into three parts, the first covering the need for reconnection with nature, the second on the benefits of reconnection with nature and the third on creating a new relationship with nature.

The Great Theft is the second chapter and covers the Enlightenment, Scientific and Industrial Revolutions and a revolution in the way we think that separated humans from the rest of nature – ‘a single, underlying fault upon which the entire edifice of Western thought and science has been built – namely that which separates the “two worlds” of humanity and nature’, as described by Tim Ingold. A fracture so profound that it seeps into our everyday language bringing a powerful belief in the self and individuality we see throughout Western culture.

Language and folklore is powerful

Before having a read of The Great Theft, it’s worth knowing what the first chapter, A Broken Relationship with Nature covers. It opens asking whether we are a nation of nature lovers? Demonstrating how the current state of nature suggests we are not and that our relationship with nature is broken. To understand how this happened the opening chapter considers ‘the letting go’, how the human bond with nature loosened as we progressed from hunter-gatherers to farmers.