Smoking Marlboro Lights will obviously not transport you to a beautiful mountainside vista, but the two concepts are unconsciously associated in the mind of the viewer. While this pastoral model presents a very pleasant picture of nature, it ignores many of its less savory characteristics. Nature can only be viewed as an entity with equal regard for creation and destruction, not a backdrop for a pleasant weekend escape. The second dominant model of nature in contemporary society is the hierarchical model. In this view, nature exists as the dominion of humanity, a realm that he exploits, dominates, and generally masters.
Reason is seen to rule mindless, passive matter.
This model of domination extends as far back as Greek philosophy but became a powerful influence only in the past few centuries. Once this necessary permeation of all human spheres occurred, the hierarchical model hastened and entrenched the processes of commercialization, industrialization, and technological advance. The earth was no longer a nurturing mother but a passive sepulcher feeding power-hungry humans bent on progress. However, this model s influence did not end with human activities but extended to human relationships. By categorizing the male and female within its rubric, the hierarchical model establishes the male as the dominant sex through analogy to the human-nature hierarchy.