Why Anthropocentric Is Wrong
To say I am biocentric would be wrong. To say I am anthropocentric would be wrong too. Lastly, to say I am completely ecocentric would also be wrong. I believe that there is a balance between each worldview that benefits all without fully discrediting the other. We need to take care of the earth and all on it, but we also should make our time on earth worthwhile.
Killing an animal is not what people should be afraid of, it is one of the most common acts in the animal kingdom. We should not feel guilty for slaughtering an organism, we should feel guilty for being disconnected from our dominance over what we eat. While reading the book The Omnivores Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan, I realised how much more peoples’ …show more content…
Our greed is what makes us so successful in the animal kingdom, but it is also our biggest fault. It is destroying us and our environment. Our desire for cheap food has caused an ironic impact on humans; in 2000, the UN reported that a billion people have overnutrition (Pollan 102). We have a right to be fed, but a responsibility to not eat too much. The controversy lies in that we want cheap food but want to be healthy; to fight our lazy expectation of food to just fall onto our plate, we need to bring our connection to our food closer. Besides causing more obesity, industrial meat also creates more dangerous bacteria such as E.coli and has a huge environmental footprint. Animal production in the United States produces, in dry weight, 133 million tons of manure per year, which is 13 times more than human waste (Burkholder). In addition, when a primary consumer (i.e. cow) is separated from their producer (i.e.corn) in CAFOs, it breaks the self-sufficient nutrient cycle. In comparison to CAFOs “pasture-based systems take advantage of the animal’s ability to feed itself and spread its own manure.” (Sustainable). Our human greed has blinded us, we ignore our role as part of nature and we try to control it to quench our “need” for cheap food. We do not need to abandon meat, we need to revert to a sustainable pastoral system.
I believe in a more ecocentric view than either anthropocentric or biocentric. To be biocentric is ironically selfish as it accuses people being and acting human, but it is necessary to limit our greed and cruelty over animals. Also to be anthropocentric is selfish as it denies being part of nature, but we do have a right to live and to eat. We need a balance where the environment is the main focus, but without stretching to the extremes of holding humanity down or abusing the animals and world we live
Killing an animal is not what people should be afraid of, it is one of the most common acts in the animal kingdom. We should not feel guilty for slaughtering an organism, we should feel guilty for being disconnected from our dominance over what we eat. While reading the book The Omnivores Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan, I realised how much more peoples’ …show more content…
Our greed is what makes us so successful in the animal kingdom, but it is also our biggest fault. It is destroying us and our environment. Our desire for cheap food has caused an ironic impact on humans; in 2000, the UN reported that a billion people have overnutrition (Pollan 102). We have a right to be fed, but a responsibility to not eat too much. The controversy lies in that we want cheap food but want to be healthy; to fight our lazy expectation of food to just fall onto our plate, we need to bring our connection to our food closer. Besides causing more obesity, industrial meat also creates more dangerous bacteria such as E.coli and has a huge environmental footprint. Animal production in the United States produces, in dry weight, 133 million tons of manure per year, which is 13 times more than human waste (Burkholder). In addition, when a primary consumer (i.e. cow) is separated from their producer (i.e.corn) in CAFOs, it breaks the self-sufficient nutrient cycle. In comparison to CAFOs “pasture-based systems take advantage of the animal’s ability to feed itself and spread its own manure.” (Sustainable). Our human greed has blinded us, we ignore our role as part of nature and we try to control it to quench our “need” for cheap food. We do not need to abandon meat, we need to revert to a sustainable pastoral system.
I believe in a more ecocentric view than either anthropocentric or biocentric. To be biocentric is ironically selfish as it accuses people being and acting human, but it is necessary to limit our greed and cruelty over animals. Also to be anthropocentric is selfish as it denies being part of nature, but we do have a right to live and to eat. We need a balance where the environment is the main focus, but without stretching to the extremes of holding humanity down or abusing the animals and world we live