This all too common distinction between humans and animals is another sign of our departure from the true way. In a truly western fit of pride, we like to consider ourselves as somehow superior to our woodland neighbors. The fact that we consider ourselves so far removed from our natural surroundings precludes any hope we may have had for redemption from our deviance. A truly developed society, after all, maintains a close, healthy, and sustainable relationship with the ecosystem. Any other arrangement tends to both undervalue the environment and overestimate its abilities to provide endless resources without sustaining damage.
Western society is guilty of both.
It is, of course, unreasonable to expect that we will all change overnight and forsake our wayward attachments. In fact, that would be downright catastrophic. Our modern western society, as backwards and misguided as it is, would cause horrible damage if we were to rescind it all at once. We cannot, in addition, ask for the American people to shun scientific advancement and revert to a caveman lifestyle. This is not, perhaps, what we want to do at all.