Designing with Nature

I found it a little hard to leave such an undefiled representation of the miracle and majesty of God's creation and return to something much less than that. On the drive back I saw eroded banks, backhoes tearing out trees, a townhouse construction project, weedy wastelands, privet filled forests, etc. What a daunting, and yet ultimately rewarding challenge faces the landscape architect to take models from pure nature and abstract that pattern to the built environment.
Ian McHarg in his book Designing with Nature encourages all who would pursue that high road:
"Let us...give expression to the potential harmony of man-nature. The world is abundant, we require only a deference born of understanding to fulfill man's promise. Man is that uniquely concious creature who can perceive and express. He must become the steward of the biosphere. To do this he must design with nature."