Thoughts on Emerson's "Nature"

       Emerson highlights the more broad definition when he writes, "Nature, in the common sense, refers to essences unchanged by man..." (Introduction).  Here he is talking about natural lands...trees, rivers, etc.  Yet most of our oceans, rivers, and lakes have in some way or anther been affected by man.  Pollution has caused most of the natural essences to become changed.  Does this mean that we really don't have any "essences unchanged by man" left to us? If we go to northern Minnesota, we can see how wild everything is...how things look so unchanged by man.  But I think that mankind has had such a huge impact on the physical earth that almost all essences have been changed, in some small way or another. 
        Nature is also something that can be taken on by anyone.  Emerson writes, "Nature says, -- he is my creature, and maugre all his impertinent griefs, he shall be glad with me. Not the sun or the summer alone, but every hour and season yields its tribute of delight; for every hour and change corresponds to and authorizes a different state of the mind, from breathless noon to grimmest midnight. Nature is a setting that fits equally well a comic or a mourning piece" (Chapter 1).  People use nature to celebrate, to exercise, to find solitaire, and even to mourn/cope.  For me, nature seems so "great"...and I mean that more as "great/big/vast/impressive".  If I try to fathom the power of nature or the beauty of nature, I become overwhelmed -- nature to me is a place for every occasion -- I find comfort in it and I would spend all of my time in it if I could.  Every hour that I am in nature I find more peace within myself and with the world.          We also can sometimes take this great nature for granted.  If we stop to notice, if nature didn't work the way it does, we'd be in serious trouble because it provides so much for us.  Emerson explains this well when he writes, 

"Nature, in its ministry to man, is not only the material, but is also the process and the result. All the parts incessantly work into each other's hands for the profit of man. The wind sows the seed; the sun evaporates the sea; the wind blows the vapor to the field; the ice, on the other side of the planet, condenses rain on this; the rain feeds the plant; the plant feeds the animal; and thus the endless circulations of the divine charity nourish man" (Chapter 2).   All of nature works together to give an outcome that benefits man.  Man is able to depend on nature for it's food and drink needs.  In all, nature provides peace and solitude, as well as dietary and survival needs.  Without nature, humankind would cease to exist.