We are nature, yet we act as if we were not

“We are nature, yet we act as if we were not”, by Fátima Alves, published in Diário As Beiras, invites us to relearn how to dwell in the world. In an age when ecological crisis touches health, the economy and everyday life, the piece reminds us of something essential: we are not outside nature — we are part of it.

With clarity and poise, Fátima Alves dismantles the false boundary between “humans” and “the environment” and points to a different horizon: care, shared responsibility and intergenerational justice. The article urges us to shift from extraction to interdependence, where scientific knowledge, local wisdom and public policy work together to protect life in all its forms.

Three concrete calls stand out:

• Tend to place as home — from water and soils to biodiversity and cities — aligning personal choices with the common good.
• Turn policy into practice, with public participation, transparency and evaluation, so that sustainability promises become reality.
• Re-enchant the everyday, bringing together schools, health services, communities and cultural institutions, so a just ecological transition is lived day by day.

This is a text to read slowly and share widely: a calm call to action, made of feasible gestures — reduce, restore, regenerate — and a renewed commitment to the Earth that sustains us.

We invite you to discover the full article in the PDF below.

* Societies and Environmental Sustainability Research Group at the Centre for Functional Ecology – Science for People & the Planet, TERRA Associated Laboratory at the University of Coimbra and its Extension at Universidade Aberta of Portugal.