We belong to the Earth, the Earth does not belong to us

[Matrim]

Is it just me, or do you get angry when people put humans above animals and plants? When we litter and ruin the planet thinking its our planet. Like Earth was our car. We have been given the task of monitoring the planet and helping our animal brethren. We have been gifted with higher intelligence. But, with this gift, comes a responsibility. We have to take care of the planet and other lifeforms. We have been failing more and more in this responsibility. Back when we relied more on our brothers, we treated them better. Less abuse as they were more valuable. We fed them and gave them shelter and they would help us in many tasks. Now we have cold mechanical objects to do this. Humans have more recently been abandoning, killing, and abusing animals. We have failed at protecting species that have relied on us. We have also failed the animals by trashing and polluting the planet without a care. By killing animals just for the heck of it. We have failed to put the essence of love into these animals and have failed to see their sophistication and their natural beauty. We have lost this natural balance and comradeship as we grow at the expense of animals. We have had an "I me mine" attitude and are slowly killing the Earth. We have even failed ourselves with war, racism, and other crimes against humanity. Humans need to stop caring about how they look, stop thinking the Earth is theirs, and start remembering that we too are animals. Therefore, animals too, have feelings and live. We too, have "grown up" with other animals. We have been able to share the world before, but now we need to do it more then ever. Before the natural balance and beauty is lost. We need to stop caring about ourselves, and start caring about the whole world(other people, animals, plants, etc) We must all play our part to share the Earth for the Earth does not belong to us, we belong to the Earth just like our animal brethren.

[Niles Crane]

Does the Earth hold the deed to us? I think not!

[Snoopy]

We are the top of the food chain. The top of the food chain is always superior to its food.

Lets put it this way, a fish is sitting around. Then, a shark appears and eats the fish. The shark is superior, due to the fact that it ate the fish, whilst the fish did nothing.

We have the right to eat other animals. We are the top of the food chain.

[Skyler]

We are the top of the food chain. The top of the food chain is always superior to its food.

Lets put it this way, a fish is sitting around. Then, a shark appears and eats the fish. The shark is superior, due to the fact that it ate the fish, whilst the fish did nothing.

We have the right to eat other animals. We are the top of the food chain.

Untill we realize that if technology and inventiveness fails us and we are being chased by hypo's and crocodiles on incovient hours of the day they will have the moral obligation to eat our souls and feast on our beerish beers.

Only through our collective intellect and teamwork can we stand firm on the top of the world.

If I were to face a flammish rabbit alone I would most likely meet my demise.
If I had the assistance of the TWc crew and we worked together as a team we might come out on top regarding this dangerous hypothetical situation and eat rabbit balls all year long.

The message I am trying to convey is that I was once bitten by a rabbit.

[invictus]

So does this mean if i kill you i am superior to you? Ill eat you to if you would like that to make it seem like im above you on the food chain. -Leon

[Francisco Montana]

We have been given the task of monitoring the planet and helping our animal brethren. We have been gifted with higher intelligence.

By who?

We fed them and gave them shelter...

Still do. You need to get out of the city and check out flyover country. We still feed animals and give them shelter.

Now we have cold mechanical objects to do this.

Tell that to my family who gets up at the crack of dawn and end their day of work when the sun sets (which, in Montana, is around 930pm this time of year.)

Humans have more recently been abandoning, killing, and abusing animals.

Do you have any idea how we treated animals in the past? If anything, we treat them better today then ever before. Trust me. Look back anytime in the past and tell me if they ever considered giving Chimpanzees human right. Think about it.

We have failed to put the essence of love into these animals and have failed to see their sophistication and their natural beauty.

Tell that to that bear guy who lived with the bears because they were simply misunderstood. The bears ate him. I think I understand them perfectly.

We have lost this natural balance and comradeship as we grow at the expense of animals.

If, as you say, we are animals too. Tell me one other animal that stopped expanding in order to 'save' their rivals?


I'm sorry. I'm all for conservation. To be sure, having the pleasure of living in such a natural and beautiful state like Montana gives me a great sense of oneness with the world. All I have to do is drive 10 seconds any direction out of town and I am literally in the middle of nowhere. It's awe inspring.

But you are living in a fantasy if you think we are any worse to nature today than we were yesterday. We are much more aware of our role on this planet today than we have ever been.

We're not perfect but look around. We're trying to figure out how to keep a natural balance while our population explodes. What would you have us do? Mass genocide of our own species in order to save the planet?

The fact is, I agree with you. We are apart of nature. No better. No worse. But apart of it.

Never, in the history of the planet, has a species done what it can to find a way to keep the natural order of things. But just like the beaver creates a damn and changes the eco-system in it's environment, we too, change ours. We're no better or worse than that beaver.

The world will never be the same. But that doesn't mean that's a bad thing. We live longer, live happier and, yes, we are more aware of our responsiblity to keep this planet in good order for our children.

If anything, we don't own the planet and the planet doesn't own us. The planet belongs to our children and we are merely stewarts keeping watch until they have thier turn to do the same.

[Kiki52]

I think that we are now more aware of how bad we are treating the environment today that we were during the 1950s for instance. Around the 1920s to 1950s it was the worst, but even London during the 1800s was really bad all full of soot and other things from the dirty factories.

People do need to be more concerned about the enviornment these days, and to respect the native indigenious ways too. But are more aware than we were in that respect today compared to the period 1500s to 1900s.

As far as animal treatment though I still think we need to be able to eat animals. Animals are important I think, but we shouldn't be too over zealous about animal rights. The middle ages wasn't so much animal rightish, the knight's horses got stabbed with pikes when they ran into them that isn't exactly humane now was it?

[Primvs Sextvs Loverlord]

I totally disagree with the OP.
Yes, it's very modern and liberal to say that the we belong to the other and blah blah.
But the truth is that the earth is here to feed us, give us air and give us animals that we can eat. The earth belongs to us and THAT is why we should take care of it and not pollute it and not kill every other living thing.

[The Dude]

I totally disagree with the OP.
Yes, it's very modern and liberal to say that the we belong to the other and blah blah.
But the truth is that the earth is here to feed us, give us air and give us animals that we can eat. The earth belongs to us and THAT is why we should take care of it and not pollute it and not kill every other living thing.

I agree with this. Saying that we belong to the earth gives us no incentive towards proper behaviour as whatever we do is then by definition something that the "earth" does, and whatever the earth does can then easily be regardly in a matter-of-factly sense, rather than a moral one.

By saying that the earth belongs to us, we commit ourselves to our own wellbeing and by necessity also the earth's wellbeing. Without the earth and what it provides, we're obviously going to die out fast. In the interest of self-preservation, we should treat the earth well. Treating the earth well for the earth's sake would be equal to saying that Mars feels depressed about its barren state.

EDIT: Also, this thread's age is irrelevant. Do we care when it was posted? It's a valid discussion even now.

[enoch]

hail Gaia

I hear she doesn't mind backdoor.............spam?

[Blau&Gruen]

Earth does not belong to us, we belong to the Earth just like our animal brethren.

We are just guests with responsibility. When we leave, we should leave the house behind in order. Animals do not share that kind of responsibility.

[turtle]

The Earth does not belong to us, nor do we belong to the Earth. We are simply two objects in space who must have a mutual relationship to survive. Us moreso than the Earth, because the Earth has its ways of taking care of itself; we, on the other hand, have to learn how to survive, whilst the planet does its thing. When I say mutual relationship I'm not saying that the Earth is going to knock on our door and ask us to be its friend. But the Earth is a living breathing thing that will react to enough actions that are deleterious to its being... as are we. So, we must understand the Earth, its subsidiaries and how our livelihood has a deep physical and mental relationship with them. If we don't understand that we will not be able to enjoy and live it.

This is not a matter of ownership or superiority, it is a matter of understanding the circumstance and being able to compromise according to the needs of that specific situation. We are here simply as cognative beings who have a moral duty to tend to our only source of life... this is how the Native peoples looked at it.

We didn't belong to her (Mother Earth), nor did she belong to us. We are simply a part of a circle of being that they had the ability to recognize and learn to repspect. We are people who are here and have a duty to our children, their children, their children's children and so on and so forth. They had no understanding of ownership or of property, so they couldn't have possibly looked at it like many modern people do. It was simply a mutual relationship between mother and child (Earth and People). We came from the Earth, she is our only source of life... why not protect it, it's the most logical thing to do.

That's my two cents.

[Elfdude]

I have to laugh at matrim. To equate our existance with animals, people who can tell you exactly what they're feeling when they're feeling, people who more or less look like you think like you feel like you and talk to you with plants or animals is retarded.

Global warming is good for plants. Global warming is fine for the animals. What's bad about global warming is it could turn OUR world upside down. Frankly if it comes down to it we can eliminate global warming almost totally in a few months.

The worst thing humans are doing is destroying habitats of animals, and the most habitat destruction occurs around tribal villages. Yeah that's right the great 'live with the land' are the source of the most destructive forces to ecosystems right now.

So, before you go on a green streak know this:

Recycling causes some of the most potent and deadly not to mention some of the MOST pollution in the world. Recycling anything except for metals is inefficient expensive and pollutes more than it saves. You want to save the earth? Vote for laws that require mandatory sterilization of stupid people. When you toss that plastic container into the recycling bin think to yourself: "What happens when plastic is burnt to the atmosphere?" Then toss it in the trash.

[Town Watch]

This thread must be cleansed of any emo-ism!!!

[removeduser_426582376423734]

If you believe in the Bible, then you won't care about the environment. If you don't believe in the Bible... you won't care about the environment. Only if you're mega rich or mega poor will you care.

[Garnier]

God made the world and made man, like God, to be in charge. He said "Take dominion over creation."

We do not belong to the Earth.. We belong to God, and the Earth belongs to us since He gave it to us.

[Shaba Wangy]

There is no love in the human-earth relationship either way. We want to take take take and "it" doesn't want to do anything. Stop anthropomorphizing a giant lump of dirt and molten iron. Its not a spiritual being, not some Gaia, not some transcendental life force, it's just that, earth.

Now if we were smart, we'd take better care of it, and each other, because we depend on it. But enough with this whiny "we must love our mother earth" hippie ****. Go love your ACTUAL mother, the one you are probably neglecting when you are out saving the bleeding whales.

[DisgruntledGoat]

This thread reeks of a teen thats read too much PETA propaganda. As another poster mentioned we have certainly not gotten worse in our treatment of animals we have gotten better. Heck we have even saved species from dying out when 100/200 years ago we wouldn't have batted an eye. I' not gonna get into a post about all the reasons PETA is a lying hypocritical and dangerous organization (thats something for the mudpit) but I will say that I don't ever think we has humans should but ourselves at the same level or below other animals (which the op seems to think we should). The continuation of the human species is our reason for being on this planet and its what we are suppose to do yes we have a responsibility to maintain the status quo and not destroy the earth but I don't think that should mean sacrificing ourselves to save other species.

Also, although I'm not religious many in the industrialized world are. And many are Christian. Its hard to sit there and tell them to care more for the planet and not think of it as theirs when in the bible says God gave man dominion over all the earth. Some would say its ours to rule over however we see fit. Not to say I share that view point, but its always good to see it from other peoples perspective.

[chris_uk_83]

The earth is a lump of rock and iron. It happens to have some pretty things on it at the moment, and to be honest we rely on a few of these pretty things to survive. Why should we care about animals? Because we need them to eat. But why should we care about endangered Pandas and some rare bird who only lives on one particlar patch of ground, a patch of ground that would make an excellent scientific testing facility?

We did fine up until the Hippy era when conservationalism didn't exist, we can do fine again without it.

Conservation and environmentalism stands in the way of progress.

[Sadreddine]

The earth is a lump of rock and iron. It happens to have some pretty things on it at the moment, and to be honest we rely on a few of these pretty things to survive. Why should we care about animals? Because we need them to eat. But why should we care about endangered Pandas and some rare bird who only lives on one particlar patch of ground, a patch of ground that would make an excellent scientific testing facility?

We did fine up until the Hippy era when conservationalism didn't exist, we can do fine again without it.

Conservation and environmentalism stands in the way of progress.

I haven't really liked hippies until I've read this post. These words are to me more appropiate for a hollywoodian killing machine than a human being. It seems that science can be quite detrimental to normal human behaviour if not administered properly.

Unless you're joking....