BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 23, 2024
Human hunter-gatherers “knew” that animals were conscious and had rituals of apology when they killed them. But the reassuring doctrine of human exceptionalism triumphed everywhere in the “civilized” world — and the scientists, people of their time, just went along with the idea that nonhuman animals are not conscious. The crisis in biodiversity, linked to the climate crisis and almost as grave, is going to impose its own priorities on the present system of food production. In order to preserve the minimum biodiversity necessary for the long-term health of the biosphere, the human race must restore at least half the land currently used for growing crops to its original ecosystem functions over the next several generations. Fortunately, a new technology is making that a realistic possibility. In the long run, we might not even have to kill so many conscious entities. ~ Gwynne Dyer