Starting around 9,000 years ago, the agricultural era brought about the large-scale domestication of animals and a fundamental shift in our relationship to them. Less and less beings of great mystery and power, they were becoming, instead, commodities.
(Fourth in a series about how and why our relationship to our fellow animals has deteriorated to the point of an unfolding mass extinction.)
How and when did we humans decide we didn’t want to think of ourselves as animals any longer? How did we go from thinking of the other animals as essentially our equals to treating them as commodities that exist to be mined from the oceans by huge factory ships and manufactured from birth to death on factory farms?
It’s obviously a long and complex story, but we can get an idea of how it took place over thousands of years in various parts of the world.
(Third in a series about how and why our relationship to our fellow animals has deteriorated to the point of an unfolding mass extinction.)
If you’ve ever wondered whether there’s an afterlife, you’ve probably found yourself making a mental list of the people you’d look forward to seeing there. This…
In the story of the Garden of Eden, our early ancestors find themselves confronted by a choice.
They’re already developing an increasingly complex self-awareness that gives them the ability to think in terms of good and bad. And they’re acquiring an existential understanding of their personal mortality.
As this awareness grows, they find themselves hearing two voices: one calling them back to a state of innocence in paradise; the other beckoning them forward to a future where they might become “as gods” in their own right, taking dominion over the world, freeing themselves from their animality, and even becoming immortal.
(Second in a series about how and why our relationship to our fellow animals has deteriorated to the point of an unfolding mass extinction.)
The psychology behind why we humans continue to reduce the other animals to the status of resources, commodities and property – even at risk of driving much of life on Earth to mass extinction.
If you care about the animals and nature, Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma is the climate science denier you love to hate. The senator, in turn,…
In the Ancient Greek drama Prometheus Bound by Aeschylus, Prometheus tells of the terrible mistake he made in giving humans self-awareness and enlightenment. The “gift”, he…
The People’s Climate March in New York City was the biggest march in history, demonstrating that more people than ever are now saying that concern about…
What does this August 29th Newsweek cover say to you, with its rather menacing-looking chimpanzee and a caption suggesting that these animals and the people from…
“The possibility of genuine chaos, real cannibalizing barbarism, is closer to the surface than we can possibly imagine.” Oscar Eustis, artistic director, New York’s Public Theater.
In a recent post, I talked with climate scientist Guy McPherson about Near-Term Extinction. He explained how, thanks to the ways we’re affecting the climate, we’re…
It’s surely the most important question in the world today: Why are we humans driving the Earth into a Sixth Great Extinction – an extinction event that will likely include our own species?
Why, despite the fact that there are more animal protection groups and more environmental organizations than ever before, is the situation for our fellow animals and the whole world of nature getting worse by the day?
And why do we humans, a supposedly highly intelligent species, continue hurtling down this catastrophic track?
The horsemeat scandal that’s eating away at Europe isn’t about bad food or labeling or criminal black markets. It’s about the violation of cultural taboos.
Every culture has its food taboos, and for some people, eating horses is one of those. But what we really need is a new set of taboos that aren’t rooted in outdated religions and will engender a new relationship with our fellow animals.
The comments of soldiers at a checkpoint between Israel and Palestine are a classic example of what has been called the signature cry of all humanity: “I am not an animal.”
In this case, as one of the soldiers puts it, “They’re animals; we’re humans.”
Last week, we noted that most Americans now consider climate change to be a high priority. Does that mean that significant action will be taken? No.…
While religion itself is not in itself bad for animals, religions that seek to separate humans from the natural world are indeed a problem.
(And, incidentally, there’s very little difference between a fundamentalist religious believer and an atheist transhumanist worshipper of technology.)
It’s hard to argue that murdering children with an assault weapon is what the Founding Fathers had in mind when they said that a “well-regulated militia” could protect a “free state” at a time when the newborn nation was fighting for its life against the British Empire.
But this is not about rational arguments. Something much deeper is going on. Why are so many Americans afraid of losing their “right” to carry around practically any weapon of their choice? Why are they so emotional about it?
The trailer of the new movie “The Master” perfectly captures the tragedy of the human condition, how we separate ourselves from the rest of nature and…
Russian mogul Dmitry Itskov thinks he can upload his brain to a holographic avatar that can support his entire consciousness – and in the next 33…
It’s often assumed that indigenous peoples think of themselves as being closer to nature and not as involved as the rest of us in trying to…