Is this nature?

Have we lost touch?  Often I walk out into the fresh air, and find myself a little perplexed.  Is this nature?

In my small yard, with the un-mowed grass (well, mowed, but usually not freshly), I stare out and wonder if this is what humanity is destined for.  No more forests, no more prairies, no more stunning mountain ponds.  Just a simple yard of half dead grass.  As a child, I dreamt of endless, unmanned meadows where I could lose myself in nature, meditating about the endless possibilities of life and mysterious perplexities of death.  But, as it seems with all people, somewhere on the road to adulthood I lost that childhood innocence and exuberance.  I realize now this was merely a fantasy.  But the scary part is that I fear one day children won't even have these dreams.  I fear they will grow up in a world where it's normal not to see nature, not to dream about the first blossoms of spring and last leaves of autumn.

Don't get me wrong, I like having modern conveniences.  I like it a lot.  I truly believe that society is better today for the advancements we have made in technology, culture, and general civility.  But, even given these advancements, it would be a tragic shame if we lost touch with what guided us through thousands of years of societal evolution.  We need nature to survive so that we survive, it's as simple as that.  No amount of technology can replace the feeling of seeing the reflection of sunrise on a perfectly placid alpine lake early in the morning.  Or the first breath of warm spring air after a cruel, unrelenting winter.  Or even the putrid smell of the decaying, mossy undergrowth in a dense tropical rain forest.  I wouldn't trade these things for all the simulations in the world.  

Staring back into my yard, I hope this isn't what it will come to.  Stronger, more passionate, and more influential people than I are working as I type this to help preserve what nature we have left.

I pray they succeed.