Increasing our compassion footprint

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http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2008/jun/29/increasing-our-compassion/

 

 

 

 

Increasing our compassion footprint

By Marc Bekoff

Sunday, June 29, 2008

 

 

Our relationships with nonhuman animals (animals) are complicated, frustrating,

ambiguous, paradoxical, and range all over the place.

 

When people tell me that they love animals and then harm or kill them I tell

them I'm glad they don't love me.

 

Surely we can do better in our relationships with animals and other people.

Indeed, our relationships with human animals often are of the same ilk. We

observe animals, gawk at them in wonder, experiment on them, eat them, wear

them, write about them, draw and paint them, move them from here to there as we

" redecorate nature, " make decisions for them without their consent, and

represent them in many varied ways yet we often dispassionately ignore who they

are and what they want and need.

 

We currently know a lot about animal sentience and animal emotions, more than we

often give ourselves credit for. Behavioral and neuroscientific research shows

that animals' lives aren't all that private, hidden, or secret. When someone

says they're not sure if dogs, for example, have emotions, if they feel joy or

grief, I say I'm glad I'm not their dog.

 

Compassion is the key for bettering animal and human lives. People all over the

globe are talking about ways to lighten our carbon footprint and accrue carbon

credits. But what about our compassion footprint and compassion credits?

 

A good way to make the world a more compassionate and peaceful place for all

animals, to increase our compassionate footprint, is to " mind " them. " Minding "

animals means that we must " mind " them by recognizing that they have active

minds and feelings. We must also " mind " them as their caretakers in a human

dominated world in which their interests are continually trumped in deference to

ours.

 

To mind animals it's essential for people with varied expertise and interests to

talk to one another, to share what we know about animals and use this knowledge

for bettering their and our lives. There are many ways of knowing and figuring

out how science and the humanities, including those interested in animal

protection, conservation, and environmentalism (with concerns ranging from

individuals to populations, species, and ecosystems), can learn from one another

is essential.

 

We still have a long way to go. Existing laws and regulations allow animals

living on earth, in water, and in air to be treated in regrettable ways that

demean us as a species. Indeed, in the eyes of the law animals are mere property

and they can be treated like backpacks, couches, and bicycles with no legal

recourse. The animals own eyes tell us that they don't like this at all. They

do, of course, have a point of view. Objective views of animals don't work.

 

We also double-cross animals. I can imagine an utterly exhausted polar bear

asking, " Where's the ice? " as she attempts to swim with her offspring from one

ice floe to another as she had in years past only to discover that the ice is

gone due to climate change. Despite global attempts to protect animals from

wanton use and abuse, what we've been doing hasn't been working -- " good

welfare " just isn't " good enough. "

 

Excuses justifying animal exploitation such as " Well, it's OK, I'm doing this in

the name of science " or " in the name of this or that " usually mean " in the name

of humans. " We're a very arrogant and self-centered lot.

 

It's time for people to begin to think about how to accrue compassion credits as

they do carbon credits (see for example

www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1709186,00.html). Every individual can

make positive changes for all living beings by weaving compassion, empathy,

respect, dignity, peace, and love into their lives. It's simple to make more

compassionate choices about what we eat and wear and how we educate students,

conduct research, and entertain ourselves at animal's expenses. Increased

compassion for animals can readily lead to less carbon because there's an

inverse relationship between these markers especially in our consumption of

factory-farmed meat from highly abused animals

(www.ciwf.org.uk/globalwarning/index.html).

 

We can also focus on the value of individual lives when we try to restore animal

populations and ecosystems. It's fair to ask if the life of an individual should

be traded off for the good of their species, for example, when we try to restore

wolves to Yellowstone National Park and individual wolves die so that others

might live?

 

It's a win-win situation to make every attempt to coexist peacefully and to do

so in the most compassionate ways possible. For compassion for animals will make

for more compassion among people and that's what we need as we journey into the

future. Cruelty to animals has serious implications for humans as well. Studies

by Frank Ascione, Phil Arkow, Barbara Boat, and many others show that children

who are cruel to animals are significantly more likely to commit violence

against humans later in life--the absence of empathy for one indicates lack of

empathy for the other. Indeed, studies of prison inmates reveal that as many as

75 percent of violent offenders had early records of animal cruelty. The Humane

Society of the United States has a program, called " First Strike, " devoted to

learning more about the connection between cruelty to animals and to humans.

 

The Society & Animals Forum and the Human/Animal Violence Education Network have

also launched similar programs that deserve our support. Albert Schweitzer once

wrote: " Until he extends his circle of compassion for all living things, man

will not himself find peace. "

 

We can always add more compassion to the world. Ultimately, I believe compassion

for animals will make for more compassion among people, weaving more empathy,

respect, dignity, and love into all our lives.

 

Animals are asking us to treat them better or leave them alone. So, whenever you

try to reduce carbon at the same time try to increase compassion. Animals and

future generations of humans will thank us for our efforts and I'm sure each of

us will feel better about ourselves.

 

Marc Bekoff is the author of many books including " The Emotional Lives of

Animals " , " Animals Matter " , and " Animals at Play: Rules of the Game " , and editor

of the " Encyclopedia of Human-Animal Relationships. " He and Jane Goodall

co-founded Ethologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

(www.ethologicalethics.org). His homepage is http://literati.net/Bekoff).

 

 

“We now know that a neo-conservative is an arsonist who sets the house on fire

and six years later boasts that no one can put it out.†- Bill Moyers