This Is Hope: Green Vegans and the New Human Ecology: How We Find Our Way to a Humane and Environmentally Sane Future

by Will Anderson

Overview

Though categorized as Ecology/Environment, "This Is Hope" is a crossover book for self-identified environmentalists, species rights advocates, vegans and vegetarians, those dedicated to true sustainability, fish and wildlife "management" professionals, students of deep ecology, and those who want to know the biocentric story behind our dietary, consumer, and reproductive choices.

The issues most important to us converge at our human ecology. Our human ecology consists of our relationships with and between other people, other species, our institutions, and the physical environment — between us and our external environment. Because of its comprehensive consideration of these relationships to all else, an examination of our human ecology reveals how multiple issues are connected—issues that advocates from diverse causes care about deeply.

In "This is Hope", I compare the outcomes of two human ecologies; one is tragic, the other is full of promise. I describe in depth our current human ecology to illustrate how we are living inappropriately, cruelly, and unsustainably. It is obsolete and has been for a long time. Our current human ecology is the cause of our overpopulation, our overconsumption of resources, the poverty of ecosystems and people, and our disregard for the rights of individuals from other species. I propose the new human ecology to replace it.

The new human ecology is characterized by Seven Results that we create the moment we change our personal behaviors. The Results include reduced human populations, increased possibilities for social and economic justice, and a vegan human ecology. Building on deep ecology, the topics I consider include our impacts on ecosystems; species rights as a concept that is essential to environmental advocates; fish and wildlife management and how it cannot stop the loss of biodiversity in the presence of our current human ecology; carnism; human overpopulation; the poverty found in social and economic injustice; and the environmental communities' misguided reliance on the omnivore movement.

I examine Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma among other works and popular media's distorted portrayal of veganism. I critique his misuse of biological terms, describe how he misleads readers in his accounting of philosophers associated with animal rights, and describe the flaws in his methodology that led him to dismiss vegans as misguided urbanites.

Over a span of three decades, I managed campaigns for species rights and environmental organizations. We operated without the overarching context we needed to make the connections between those and other issues that pulled at my heart. Environmentalists seemed unaware that there is immense suffering in ecosystem destruction. Animal rightists ignored the innate value of all species and too often chose sentience as the ultimate test for responding to issues. They failed to acknowledge the dependence of the sentient upon the nonsentient and their ecosystems. During and since then I wrote "This Is Hope: Green Vegans and The New Human Ecology / How We Will Find Our Way to a Humane and Environmentally Sane Future."

For the first time, advocates from many fields will see that our human ecology is the context they have been seeking to further their successes. Above all, I explain why all of these issues are connected by a common thread—our human ecology. Because of the depth and breadth of the subject matter, I substantiate my work with several hundred citations from the scientific and reliable popular literature.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781624884061
Publisher:	BookBaby
Publication date:	12/21/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	NOOK Book
Pages:	478
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Will is an environmentalist/species rights professional who for 30-plus years has conducted campaigns while employed for regional and national organizations. He most recently founded Green Vegans (www dot greenvegans dot org). He lives in Seattle.

Table of Contents

Preface xxi

Introduction xxv

Part I The Past Has No Future xxxv

Chapter 1 Current and New Human Ecologies 1

Two Human Ecologies 4

Mega, Presence, and Economic Predation 6

Disrespect for a Whale 7

Pushing on Human Ecology 9

Visionaries 10

The Obstacle to Our Survival 11

Lumps 12

Homo Sapiens Express 13

Avoiding Past Behavior and Future Tragedy 15

Chapter 2 The Seven Results 19

The Synergy Factor 28

Limiting Factors: Do as I Say, or the Tree Dies Interconnected 29

Chapter 3 Our Worldviews, the Problems they create, and a Profile of Where They Have Taken Us 32

Killer Views

Global Norms as Blindness 35

Dairy Me Not 37

Taking Responsibility 42

Chapter 4 The Bullet Points at Our Hearts 46

Humanity 47

Other Species: Wild 49

Other Species: Animal Agriculture 51

Earth 53

Planets 54

Chapter 5 Perspective/Views of the View 56

A Vital Perspective

Transoceanic 58

From Fertilizer to Poverty 60

The Most Important Dilemma: Problems with Flawed Choices 62

Give Us Our Daily Food Web 67

Cross Pollination 72

Relax 74

Dismissing Philosophers 76

Pollanist Destiny 79

The Omnivore's Disappointment 82

Bell-Ringers 83

Chickens and Eggs 86

More or Less Different? Our Sense of Other 90

My Youth 93

Chapter 6 Beyond Anthropomorphism 95

Early Imprinting 97

Flowing Empathy 99

Paying Attention and Knowing Empathy 102

At the Intersection of Our Empathy and the World 105

Plastic Out/Plastic In 106

Crossing Dexter Avenue 107

Killing Whales 110

Part II We are Neo-Predators 117

Chapter 7 Meet Mega Predator 118

Mega Predator + Presence Predator + Economic Predator = Neo-Predation

Carnist Vampires 120

Killing Elephants 122

Killing Lions 126

Poisoned 128

Eating Elephants: Trophies and Ivory Accessories 131

The Trophy Business 134

The Fishers 136

Scraping for a Living 138

Bycatch 139

The "Next One Hundred Years" 140

Sinking Sharks 141

No Middle Ground 143

Chapter 8 Meet Presence Predator 144

Soundscape Ecology 145

Our Presence in the Congo Basin 146

Turn Down the Volume 147

Alien Invasion 148

The Presence of Cars, Roads, and Barriers 152

What Road Barriers Do 153

Going Over and Under 155

Presence Predation at Fur Rendezvous 158

Chapter 9 Meet Economic Predator 150

Economic Predation

Eating Salmon Like an Economic Neo-Predator 163

The Great Human Divorce: Separating Ourselves from Cause and Effect 166

Reconnecting 168

Part III Destinations 171

Chapter 10 The Incomplete Environmentalist 172

Sounding the Depths 174

Incomplete Environmentalists and Other Advocates 176

NGOs Giving Comfort 180

Crawling, Not Walking 181

Species and Ecosystem Rights, and Species versus Individuals 183

Mixed Experiences 184

Deep Ecology 186

Suffering Ecosystems 189

An Inconsistent Relationship with Earth 192

What Revolution? Still Grazing the Prairies and Forests 195

The Bison Realm 199

How Many? 201

Paddling Up the River of Denial 202

Chapter 11 Vegan Human Ecology/The New Ecosystem Niche for Humans 203

Conversion 207

Pay Up or Die 211

Would You Like Shoes or a Handbag with That Ecosystem? 212

Our Place or Theirs? 215

Human Halitosis 216

Invest in Vegan Futures 217

Stealing Food from Wildlife 218

Chapter 12 Transnational Private Property: The New Commons 221

Multidimensional Tragedy 222

Private Parts, Public Domain 223

The Growing Global Village 224

This Land Is Our Land-and Theirs 226

Inverting Eminent Domain 228

Ecosystem Dominion Is Our Goal 229

Part IV The Human Ecology Of Managing Ecosystems 231

Chapter 13 Recognizing the Corruption 232

Asking and Offering 234

Departments of Ecosystems, Flora, and Fauna 236

Minority Control and Oppression 237

Ecosystem and Wildlife Management Schemes 242

Seattle Was 244

Chapter 14 Limits to Human Agency Abilities 245

The Five Insufficiencies

The First Insufficiency: Sufficient Knowledge 246

The Second Insufficiency: Political Will and Social Consensus 248

The Third Insufficiency: Economic Systems That Protect and Heal Ecosystems 249

The Fourth Insufficiency: An Appropriate Human Ecology 250

The Fifth Insufficiency: Access to Sufficient Resources and Human Effort 251

What Wildlife Management Allows: The Canned Hunt 253

Exotic Texas

Exotic Africa 255

New Human Ecology and Wildlife Management 257

Chapter 15 Establishing Relationships 262

Killing Wolves

The Alaskan Aerial Wolf Killers 266

Move Over, Alaska 269

More on Species vs. Individuals 270

Individuals Are Important 271

Agencies, Animal Rights, and Vegans 273

More on Un-Natural Selection 276

Chapter 16 Wildly Out of Control 280

Relationships 284

From Tank to Hunting 284

Relationships and Bowhunters Afield 285

Agency Responses 287

Birds

Mammals 290

Hunter's Want a Medal of Honor 293

More Agency Culture 295

Briefly?Selected Highlights 296

Spare Change 298

Part V Impediments 301

Chapter 17 Cultural Objections 302

Facing Ecosystem Collapse 303

Global Cultural Responsibilities 310

More on Poverty 311

Subsistence 313

Bushmeat 315

Cultural Approaches to Implementing the New Human Ecology 320

Being Anthropocentric about Other Cultures 321

Chapter 18 Washing Away the Answers: Green, Blue, Humane, and Religion Washing 323

Can't Get the Dirt Out 324

Green Washing 325

Humane Washing 327

Blue Washing 331

Religion Washing 332

Happy Death, Happy Meat 334

Nothing Sweet on the Other Side of the Fence Chef 337

Happy Media 339

The Hole of It 434

Part VI Hope 347

Chapter 19 This Is the Hope 348

The New Human Ecology: Seven Results and How You Can Achieve Them

Change 349

The Seven Results Revisited 350

Population: The Ethics of Carrying Capacity for Humans 352

The New Human Ecology: What It Will Do 355

Chapter 20 You Are the Hope 359

Never Allow Carnists to Define or Control Our Human Ecology

References 363

Recommended NGOs and Links

End Notes 364

Index: ThisIsHopethebook.com

What People are Saying About This

Brenda Peterson

We have the power. We are at the precipice where human existence and that of all other species is in doubt. Can we commit to a course of action in time to stop the loss of biodiversity, while increasing human prosperity? In This Is Hope, we realize that our old way of thinking about our place in the world must change. Here you will find not just another explanation of where we have gone wrong; but also that we have the power to create the world all of us would hope for ourselves and future generations. —Brenda Peterson, author of Build Me an Ark: A Life with Animals and Animal Heart

Marc Bekoff

In THIS IS HOPE Will Anderson proposes a unifying and comprehensive approach to stop the loss of ecosystems and biodiversity and to end the wanton abuse of wild and domesticated nonhuman animals (animals). ... a wide range of people will find common ground....

A unifying and comprehensive approach. —Marc Bekoff, Ph.D., University of Colorado; author of many books including The emotional lives of animals, Animals matter, Wild justice: The moral lives of animals, and The animal manifesto: Six reasons for expanding our compassion footprint.

Karen Davis

Never forget. Hope is filled with well-documented insights, eloquently expressed, into the causes and conditions of the malaise spreading over the Earth... This book presents its solid conceptual arguments in lucid prose while evoking the experiences of actual beings who, once you have lived with them in its pages, you will never again be able to forget.... —Karen Davis, PhD, is the President and Founder of United Poultry Concerns and the author of Prisoned Chickens, Poisoned Eggs, More Than a Meal, The Turkey in History, Myth, Ritual, and Reality, and The Holocaust and the Henmaid's Tales

Karen Dawn

Thoughtful and thought-provoking. This is Hope is thoughtful and thought-provoking. In this comprehensive and well-researched book, Will Anderson weaves together the impact our behaviors have on the web of life, without leaving loose ends. As a vegan, somebody with a comparatively light footprint on the planet, I appreciated the reminder that when I buy non organic vegan products I poison the Earth and thereby the animals. That may be what Anderson does best -- he challenges us to do better. —Karen Dawn, author of Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way We Treat Animals.

Editorial Reviews

Finally! A MUST READ for anyone seeking a practical planetary path from the current trajectory of death and desperation to one that truly engages and embraces hope for all species. This book provides a pioneering path for those who truly want to be the change we want—and need—to see in this world. As we collectively experience this never-before era of one species empowered to make it or break it for all, we now have HOPE to survive together. As a scientist in wildlife management and conservation, I can attest to tragically ridiculous and archaic methods that continue to be used (mis)manage wildlife and plant species for human ignorance and greed rather than for the planet and successive generations. This Is Hope incorporates the best and the brightest of science while allowing for the potential of humanity - in an emerging planet of interspecies coexistence and survival.

Toni Frohoff

Finally! A MUST READ for anyone seeking a practical planetary path from the current trajectory of death and desperation to one that truly engages and embraces hope for all species. This book provides a pioneering path for those who truly want to be the change we want - and need - to see in this world. As we collectively experience this never-before era of one species empowered to make it or break it for all, we now have HOPE to survive together. As a scientist in wildlife management and conservation, I can attest to tragically ridiculous and archaic methods that continue to be used (mis)manage wildlife and plant species for human ignorance and greed rather than for the planet and successive generations. This Is Hope incorporates the best and the brightest of science while allowing for the potential of humanity - in an emerging planet of interspecies coexistence and survival.
—Toni Frohoff, Ph.D

From the Publisher

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