As my hair is retreating at a rate comparable to the retreat of ice in the arctic, I thought I would peek in to the future and see how I look :)
Well that was one of the reasons for the head shave. The other one is for a fund raiser event organized by a Canadian NGO 'help Lesotho'. I also donated some money. Lesotho is a land-locked country in southern Africa that has one of the highest rates of poverty in the world, because of AIDS. About 25% of the population has AIDS, and the avg. lifespan there is about 37 years! This situation has created many orphans who don't have access to food, health care or education. NGOs like 'help Lesotho' play a crucial role in preventing further spread of AIDS.
I am a big fan of Peter Singer and his philosophy. Its always a delight to read his articles and to listen to his interviews/debates. (I will perhaps write more about him in another post). I also appreciate Richard Dawkins and have enjoyed reading his book: 'The God Delusion'. So I was excited to find this interview on youtube:
Peter Singer is terrific as usual and I particularly liked his comments on how people who consume animal products have more responsibility to know how the farm animals are treated, and how the abortion issue is morally insignificant compared to the killing of a sentient non-human animal for food.
Dawkins says that it is morally acceptable to consume animal products if the animals are killed instantaneously and painlessly (though he accepts that this hardly happens in practice). I don't quite think so. For example, the production of dairy requires slaughtering of calves, even if the calves can be slaughtered painlessly in theory, what about the emotional/mental suffering experienced by the cow when her calf gets seperated from her ?
Towards the end of the discussion, Dawkins says that though eating meat is not ethical, he (reluctantly) does that because it is a social custom. Further, he admits that if he was living 200 years ago, he would probably (reluctantly) be a slave owner, as it was a custom then. I have to appreciate him for his moral/intellectual honesty. But on the other hand it is also a bit disappointing to hear this from a person like Dawkins. After all, arguing against religion and god is not exactly a social custom yet, but he does that regularly and passionately.
Yesterday, I watched an amazing documentary called 'Home', about how humans are affecting the environment. Here's the link. I highly recommend it. The picturization and music are terrific. It starts off with a brief overview about evolution and how water, air, land and life are all inter linked and in intricate balance (until the arrival of humans). It then goes on to explain how we have managed to bring the whole system to the brink of collapse within a few decades. It does a very good job in explaining the dangers of overusing non-renewable resources: oil, coal, fossil water and minerals. It also explains how intensive agriculture, which in turn is propelled by the demand for meat, depletes the earth's resources including water and forests. One of the most troubling things is that in the last three decades, about a quarter of the amazon rain forest has been cleared to grow soybeans, 95% of which are being fed to cattle and poultry and converted into milk and meat. This is happening in spite of the fact that over a billion people live in extreme poverty and hunger.
Towards the end the narrator suggests and supports investing in renewable energy sources: solar, geo thermal, tidal and wind. My only criticism is that they don't quite advocate what we can do individually to help the cause. I think it is indisputable that going vegan or at least significantly cutting out animal products is one of the most effective ways to help the environment. That way we would use less resources (land, water, power), help in reducing global warming and pollution and contribute towards reducing world hunger.
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