Animal Rights and Green Philosophy

The image here shows a tree that was recently cut down. It sits in a field that I call the Goat Field, and last Autumn/Winter it shed a major branch. Fortunately this landed in the field and not the road. It had previously done just that a number of years ago. Therefore it had to have some work done to it. While I personally would have preferred to have seen it saved, the reality is that if the smallholder had tried to keep the tree alive and it ended up causing an injury or accident, there would have been someone demanding that something is done. Normally that means someone must be to blame. Therefore in conservation terms, an oak tree that is an important habitat is lost so that the land owner can avoid being sued at some latter date.

As my personal default position is that a tree should be saved unless there are overwhelming reasons to cut it down, I feel in this case the smallholder made the right choice. Respecting the environmental needs balanced with the needs of the community. He waited until nesting birds had fledged and left the other tree in place. Therefore was only dealing with the problem oak and not declaring war on trees.

The difficulty is that far to often people are not prepared to look at issues in less than a monochrome manner. Far to many people see an issue is either Right or Wrong depending upon their view point. With this tree I have heard comments from people who were for the tree being felled and those that wanted to save it. Probably in equal measure.

However it was a rather harsh criticism of a fellow Blogger who had taken her children to a Circus that has prompted this posting. As there was a lack of respect regarding her judgement.

While I do at times think of myself as a Green Philosopher, I know that sounds pretentious, I do feel that only by getting people to think more carefully about Environmental issues and man's (the species not the gender) place in that environment can we hope to find ways of solving some of the problems and resolving the conflicts. At the centre of all of my reasoning is respect. If respect were at the centre of all that we do, then most of the problems we have and face just would not exist.

As I have said here before, I was a vegetarian for twenty five years. Not because I felt that it was wrong to eat animals, but because Agriculture and the Food industry had developed practices that I strongly disapproved of. However often when I met other fellow vegetarians I was made to feel less worthy as my personal decision was not based on the higher moral ground of their decision, that they felt it was simply wrong to eat animals. It is also interesting to note that many of these people stopped being vegetarian, long before I did, when they met a partner that was an eater of meat. However, while I know that is a cheap shot, hay I am a miser that makes Scrooge look generous, people that stand on that High Moral Ground and cast their stones, normally have feet of clay. Had these people had more respect for other views they could have discovered that they could have stopped being vegetarian with dignity by avoiding the meat that comes from factory farming, and the very abuses they had wanted to avoid perpetrating.

For me it was the fact that farming had changed so that there are now sources of meat that is not abusive. These farmers will only continue rearing them and provide the greater welfare systems if people buy the food they produce. Therefore, by respecting these farmers who respect their animals, eating meat becomes respectful.

In the green movement in general there are many committed folks who often let themselves down by failing to show respect. To give an example; most people in towns and cities do not need to drive a four by four, it is a status symbol. I don't drive and I don't have any need for a phallic replacement, I make women happy by giving them a laugh at how small I am. I heard of an incident where a professional man in Newcastle had his car vandalised by “Green Activists”. This meant that he was not able to respond to a call out. As an equine vet, he needed the off road abilities of the car to get to his patients. Had the so called “Green Activists” tried to engage in a debate rather than take direct action they would have discovered that he had a genuine need for a 4x4. The person that told me the story confirmed that the injured horse was fine, but no thanks to the idiots who damaged his car. I dare say that they would have been mortified if they had realised that they placed an animal in danger via their actions, but often it is this blinkered view that prevents some people thinking about the consequences of their actions.

The other side of that coin is that if people who drive were prepared to drive a smaller less polluting car then a major chunk of climate change could be resolved straight away. Most people in towns and cities just don't need a car at all. But as with so many of the problems in society it comes down to the selfish disrespectful actions of people impacting upon others. If everyone who really did not need a car gave the car up, we would resolve much of the air pollution problems that effect all urban areas. The number of parents that I have spoken to who have children with asthma who drive everywhere never ceases to amaze me. Suggesting that they give up their car could help their children and into the sand the heads go. To me that looks like a lack of respect for their children.

It is when we explore the area of animal rights that matters really become extreme. I have known animal rights activists who are so warped in their thinking that they tried to keep a pet cat on a vegetarian diet. As should have been predicted the cat became very ill. It was when the cat was gravely ill that I became acquainted with this small group, as I was asked to look after the cat. I took one look at the food that they left me to feed the cat and went out and bought some tinned tuna, remember this was twenty years ago, and by the time they collected the cat three days latter it was back running around and while not yet fit and well, much improved. They did their nut that I had fed the cat flesh of any sort. I also discovered that the reason why they had wanted me to look after the cat was because an RSPCA inspector was trying to take the cat from them for cruelty. The cat did survive and was re homed by the RSPCA. However, I don't know if these foolish extremists ever realised the harm they and suffering they caused. Trying to make an animal act against its nature and needs is an act of cruelty.

To me this type of dogma is identical to religious extremism. The I am Right and you are wrong brigade, of what ever flavour. People who demand respect for animals while thinking they are justified in harming or terrorising other humans are have the same twisted logic of the puerile fools that think blowing themselves up in the name of their god, automatically loose the right to have respect. While I am not religious myself, personally I can picture the scene, the martyr stands before their god, expecting to be let into paradise: and God says; what kind of fool are you? I never asked you to kill in my name! There are in Britain people who use terrorism to further their ideas of what animal rights is.

Equally with Animal Rights extremists, they claim to care about all life, but is releasing mink from fur farms going to help wildlife or the environment? Of course not, as Mink are not native to Britain they caused devastation to native mammals and created huge imbalances that are only now twenty odd years latter correcting themselves mainly via the efforts of many conservation bodies.

Even looking at attitudes today, many people will harp on about animal rights when in Britain there are still people who do not fully have their human rights. While I do believe that respect for humans and other animals go hand in hand, far to often people chose to campaign on single issue while ignoring the much wider picture of abuse, injustice and lack of respect.

Having been involved most of my adult life in trying to help improve the environment, I have seen, meet and worked with, some very committed people. However, I have also seen many people who talk about what they think needs to be done, but live lives that contribute to the problem. Be that driving a car that they don't need. Or campaign about Air travel at Heathrow Airport, but must have their two weeks overseas, reached by air travel. Or people that say they want Farming to be Organic but will buy cheap imports from the supermarket. I am fully aware that folks can only do what they can, within their budget and income level, there are far to many who belong to the do as I say brigade and not the do as I do platoon.

With true green thinking, all the solutions require respect. By this I mean that if you think about what you do effects others and the environment then there are many activities and actions that would not happen. As simply the disrespect of so much human activity seriously impacts others and it is simply ignored by the majority. An example of this is the over fishing that goes on. If the fishermen had respect for their sons who will not have jobs or work the raping of the seas would not happen. True green thinking, green philosophy, applies to all aspects of life but especially economics. At the moment there is far to much economic emphasis on growth and accumulating wealth. That whole system nearly brought the worlds economies down when the banks collapsed.

The problem often is that there are some idealists out there who look at just a slice of the pie of problems that we on our home planet face. Animal rights people have this blinkered view that humans can stop utilising animals. For the last ten thousand years we have shared our lives with animals. Dogs as companions and tools, we have many breeds that helped us hunt and helped us keep livestock. For food, not just eating them, but cows, sheep and goats for milk too. But their manure to fertilise the soils that grow crops. To create a green future we need to use more of the manure to maintain soil fertility and stop using chemical fertilisers.

There is abuse in the present Industrial Agricultural system, but only by supporting the farmers that use high welfare systems will the abusive systems become redundant. It is about respecting the farmers that respect their animals.

As I have said I have met with may people who claim to be Environmentalists or Green, but often they are just drop outs from society. They want to sit on the sidelines and complain, when offered a chance to do anything practical, be that helping to clean up litter or something else that is practical and they shy away from the hard work.

A good example of this is the people that attend Glastonbury. Most would claim to be environmentalists, or at least care about the environment, yet the volume of rubbish that they leave behind is astonishing. If they had true respect for the environment then there would be none. I am not criticising the Festival, it is the thoughtlessness that I am criticising.

For the Environment to really become central to all our thinking, people need to broaden their thinking and stop being selfish. Selfishness is just another way of saying disrespectful. As my regular reader may have realised, respect is at the centre of most of my posts. While I don't have the answer to all of the problems we face, if we all make respect for others and the environment part of our daily lives, I am sure that the majority of them would disappear.

Respect also has to include self respect, and while we all hold a myriad of views, attacking someone for not sharing your views shows that you lack that self respect. There is no problem with critiquing someone or something, but offering someone a reason why you feel that something is wrong is far more constructive than just attacking what someone does. That way you may help adjust misguided thinking. That way there really is the potential for us all to help and support others so we can shape the future to be a better one.