[Michael Blackwood]

>From: "Julian Shaw (Man Myth or Monkey?)" 
><julian at monkeyfamily.freeserve.co.uk>
>That is fair enough Bruce. I think people rejected most of the reasons for
>other "isms" very quickly over the last few hundred year but speciesism is
>probably one which will never go away. It's quite understandable really as 
>our
>very nature has taught us to do what we need to survive at the expense of
>other species. It is what has led to our survival. But is it still needed 
>now?
>
Well, pathenogenic bacteria are species we kill for our own survival, and I 
kid you not when I say that I've met people who (while accepting the 
necessity of the situation) find killing germs to be philosophically 
depressing!

I look at it this way - pollution, habitat destruction, etc are all products 
of humanity's refusal to see itself as part of the ecosystem of Earth, 
preferring instead to see itself as somehow seperate from, and superior to, 
nature.  But the truth is, we are hominids.  We are mammals.  We have 
canines and the digestive processes to utilize an omnivorous diet.  We are a 
part of nature, designed to behave in a certain way.  We let our tastes run 
to excesses, which is a problem (most westerners eat far too much meat in 
proportion to vegetation in their diet, just because we can), but 
fundamentally if we recognize that we are a species, part of nature, with 
our own natual behaviours and our own natural impacts on the environment, we 
will be better equipped to "pick our battles" and curb the worst of our 
behavoiurs and find the least-desctuctive ways to satisfy our primal 
biology.  The alternative is to waste engery in unwinnable battles against 
the realities of our species' nature.  We must strive to minimize our impact 
on the environment, for example, not try to make the existence of Homo 
Sapiens undetectable in the world - that would be as unnatural and 
unsustainable as industrial effluent in our river systems.

hold together,
Mike

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