Environmental Ideologies and Views on Nature
Laura Metrick
Slippery Rock University
Abstract
This paper explores my personal thoughts on nature and which ideologies fit those thoughts. It examines various childhood experiences and how they have transformed into my views on the environment and several ideologies that fit those views. Many ideologies are examined including conservationism, preservationism and animal rights as define by Corbett (2006). The use of the environment for human use is discussed.
Growing up on a large vegetable farm in Western Pennsylvania meant that most of my childhood was spent outside. The first thing we did when we got home from school was head to the barn to do our chores because
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My view of nature is a little different. As soon as we were done with our work for the day, my cousins and I would pack some snacks and head to the woods on the edge of our property and spend the day exploring the cave deep in the woods, building cabins out of sticks and trying to fish in the Connoquenessing Creek that ran through our property. While I did spend a lot of time in this type of setting, most of my experiences in nature happened in wide open fields. According to Sobel (2008), “One transcendent experience in nature is worth a thousand nature facts.” I strongly agree with this statement because my childhood experiences in nature have shaped my views and led me to my future career of being an agriculture …show more content…
For example, animal rights ideology holds that nonhuman animals are “another aggrieved group being subject to unjustifiable discrimination by a privileged group (humans) with the power to indulge their urge to discriminate” (Corbett, 2006). I have a strong belief in the proper treatment of animals but also believe that animals are for human use. I believe that this belief goes back to my upbringing on a farm. Each year we would have a few cattle and hogs that we would raise, show at the county fair and then sell or send to market. From a young age I understood that these animals would at some point be used for food.
While looking further into this topic I examined the difference between animal welfare and animal rights. The American Veterinary Medical Association defines animal welfare as a “human responsibility that encompasses all aspects of animal well-being, including proper housing, management, disease prevention and treatment, responsible care and humane handling” (Welfare vs. Rights). While I do not believe fully in an animal rights ideology, I strongly agree with the viewpoints of animal
Man and nature has always had an imbalanced relationship. Since the dawn of mankind, humans depended on the unpredictable being that is nature in order to survive. Gradually, however, the environment has been manipulated by people, to fit their needs for survival and personal satisfaction. Presently, the relationship between man and nature has been drifting further apart with a growing disconnection between the two, as shown in Richard Louv’s Last Child in the Woods.
Many Americans blindly believe that animals deserve the same rights as humans, but little do they know about the differences between the welfare of animals and the rights of animals. In the article A Change of Heart about Animals, Jeremy Rifkin cleverly uses certain negative words in order to convince the readers that animals need to be given same rights as humans, and if not more. Research has shown that non-human animals have the ability to “feel pain, suffer and experience stress, affection, excitement and even love” (Rifkin 33). Animals may be able to feel emotions, however this does not necessarily mean that they are able to understand what having rights mean. While humans must accept their moral responsibility to properly care for animals,
In her work “What’s Wrong with Animal Rights,” Vicki Hearne challenges common beliefs of animal rights, arguing that animal rights groups do very little to actually benefit animals. She argues that natural selection should be allowed to take place for wild animals, and animals such as cats and dogs should not be seen as property. To persuade the audience to support her position, she uses ethos, pathos, and logos. Her credibility as a trainer makes the logic behind her views reliable, her logic reinforces the examples she uses, and she appeals to emotion using her relationship with her Airedale, Drummer, to support everything her argument is saying. Through these strategies, Vicki Hearne effectively counters the current, popular views of the
Additionally, from an environmentalist view, wilderness should not be seen as a separate entity but rather one with humanity. Consequently, where one does not just go to a nature preserve to feel reconnected momentarily,
One topic that many scholars are debating right now is the topic of animal rights. The questions are, on what basis are rights given, and do animals possess rights? Two prominent scholars, Tom Regan and Tibor Machan, each give compelling arguments about animal rights, Regan for them and Machan against them. Machan makes the sharp statement, “Animals have no rights need no liberation” (Machan, p. 480). This statement was made in direct opposition to Regan who says, “Reason compels us to recognize the equal inherent value of these animals and, with this, their equal right to be treated with respect” (Regan, p. 477).
When you get an animal you provide for it so it can be healthy and strong just like children. Organizations such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals just look at the bad incidents and don’t take into account how much we have expanded from livestock. They think that in FFA or 4-H we just fatten up our livestock and when the time comes we just give them away to be slaughtered like nothing, as if we never got emotionally attached to our animal. But they are wrong. We provide everything that is needed.
Many people who go into nature always see it as something beautiful and aesthetic, but they never see the other side to nature. Humankind’s connection with nature isn’t a real one. They always look at the bright side of nature but are blind to the true dark side of nature. JB MacKinnon’s article “False Idyll” (2012), reveals that nature is not just flowers in a field but can also be the survival of the fittest. He backs up his claim by talking about nature through anecdotes and expert’s research.
As a society there should be a continuation of proceeding to develop new laws. Animals have rights that are not being protected or considered when they are not given the chance to live without suffering or harm. Additionally animal rights are violated when they are used as products for experimentation. Animal experimentations
(20-21) and refutes that “now even that visual connection is optional” (21-22). His concession and refutation further proves that even though the time spent by most of society may be limited, it is still valuable because of the apparent disengagement of man from nature. Consequently, the separation of man from nature has resulted in the loss or reduction of any connection with nature. The mutual relationship between man and nature has evolved from a contract to a sad reality.
He argues that we should treat our land with care and respect as we now treat one another, for we will be ushering a new era of change the is all for the better. The second half of the essay begins with "The Ecological Conscience". Starting off by stating “Conservation is a state of harmony between men and land” and going on to describe how our fight for land is improving it is moving far too slow. This transforms into the
Nature is easily projected onto, as it allows for a sense of peacefulness and escapism. Due to its ability to evoke an emotional reaction from the masses, many writers have glorified it through various methods, including describing its endless beauty and utilizing it as a symbol for spirituality. Along with authors, artists also show great respect and admiration for nature through paintings of grandiose landscapes. These tributes disseminate a fixed interpretation of the natural world, one full of meaning and other worldly connections. In “Against Nature,” Joyce Carol Oates strips away this guise given to the environment and replaces it with a harsher reality.
We should value nature and its animals much more (Becker, 1971). In today’s world we have what Becker calls a “power-saw mentality” (Becker, 1971, p. 114). Instead we’re greedy with what nature has to offer us. “Man takes what nature offers us, but usually only what he needs” (Becker, 1971, p. 114). There is a psychological difference in today’s world of what we enjoy out of nature (Becker, 1971).
Every year, millions of animals were suffering or killed due to scientific research. Some animal rights groups suggest that we should ban animal experiments because use animals for experimentation is cruel and animals should have the same right of living as human beings. A report from U.S. Department of Agriculture shows that more than 100 million animals are killed in U.S. laboratories for biology lessons, medical experimentation, and chemical, drug, food, and cosmetics testing. There are some other people believe that the death of animals will help and save millions of human lives. Personally I believe that the experimentation on animals for scientific and medical should not be stopped.
Therefore, we need to think about tomorrow with respect to every action that we take in the environment and in this case we can say that sustainable development requires slower population growth. With this in mind, we need to be educated through our cultures about the impact we caused to the environment as we continue to reproduce. The challenge of environmental ethics has led to the attempt to apply traditional ethical theories, including consequentialism, deontology, and virtue ethics, to support contemporary environmental concerns; the preservation of biodiversity as an ethical goal; the broader concerns of some thinkers with wilderness, the built environment and the politics of poverty; the ethics of sustainability and climate change, and some directions for possible future developments of the discipline [ CITATION And15 \l 1033 ]. With this multi-dimensional approach one can see that it is more of a cultural issue to think of it from its origin.
Animal testing is a phrase that most people have heard but are perhaps still unsure of exactly what it involve. Whether it is called animal testing, experimentation or research, it should be defined as all testing methods on animals including, medical exploration, cosmetics, toxicology trialing, and psychological examination involving animal subjects. It is used to assess the safety and effectiveness of medications and beauty products as well as understanding how the human physiology works. While supporters believe it is necessary practice, those against animal testing believe that it involves torture and suffering to animals. Medical research is the hardest case of proposition in the debate whether animal testing should be banned or not, since it has previously yielded substantial benefits for humanity.