verb [ trans. ]
1 retrieve or recover (something previously lost, given, or paid); obtain the return of : he returned three years later to reclaim his title as director of advertising | when Dennis emerged I reclaimed my room.
• redeem (someone) from a state of vice; reform : societies for reclaiming beggars and prostitutes.
• archaic tame or civilize (an animal or person).
2 bring (waste land or land formerly under water) under cultivation : little money is available to reclaim and cultivate the desert | [as adj. ] ( reclaimed) reclaimed land.
• recover (material) for reuse; recycle : a sufficient weight of plastic could easily be reclaimed.
((....wow, that's a definition loaded with irony))
Beyond Civilization: humanity's next great adventure; Daniel Quinn
"In "Beyond Civilization, " Daniel Quinn challenges the fundamental belief that civilization is the ultimate human social development to be preserved at any cost. Arguing for a movement into the unexplored region beyond civilization as we know it, Quinn presents a radical notion of our world as a temporary experiment in social organization...that is failing. Both a philosopher and a visionary, Quinn exposes the damage we inflict daily on the world around us, and then offers clear and viable alternatives that provide us an "escape route" to a future beyond civilization. Quinn believes that if just some of us are willing to live differently, we may be able to effect enough change to save us all. He explores other past and present cultures, examining what their failures and successes can teach us about our own society. Through his powerful message and shocking revelations, Quinn inspires us to change the fundamental way that we live, asserting that the very nature of humanity is at stake."
So somewhere on the interweb, someone must have posted something about the idea of the environment reclaiming what has been lost to human civilization. I know it's a taboo way of looking at things, but there are natural laws concerning population control and eco-stability and when we blatantly flout those laws- do we not expect the environment to retaliate in defense of herself? The planet is, after all, a living organism; why should we expect anything less? So why can't I find anything interpreting the recent flux of earthquakes and typhoons and floods as self defense? Hmph. Maybe I should appeal to the Biblical crowd and consider the overarching metaphor one could find in the idea of a God smiting his people for living outside of his laws. God....environment, okay that works.