ethics and exploitation

Big decisions are made based on ethics and even though we experiment with them, the ones we choose must represent safety - the safe way to do new things. For instance building relationships, building houses, building the very future itself - ethics help us to emphasise what is important. Ethics expand consciousness. And if we use our brains enough (and if our ethics are comprehensive enough) we’ll let a new consciousness influence our everyday thinking process. Humans are fortunate to have that ability to weigh rights and wrongs of quite complex problems. Other animals are limited in this way. They can’t necessarily ‘get out of the rain’ as we can. But we have taken this gift for granted, and used our discriminatory abilities to advantage ourselves, to the detriment of others.
Our sophisticated thought processes have allowed us to feather our own nests, but we’ve neglected our role as guardians. Our intellect has become detached from our conscience, giving us the green light to go ahead with things we shouldn’t be doing. We’ve wreaked plenty of havoc, and we now need to make amends. We need to put ourselves second for a change, materially and spiritually. We owe it to our victims, to show gratitude for what we’ve taken. It’s pay back time. We need to contribute something wholesome to the future. In other words we have to realise that our planet is our sacred responsibility and not something to trash.
However, we are up against the super-spoilers, mega-polluters and profit makers, and amongst them are the animal cagers and vivisectors who simply regard ethics as obstacles to profit. They intend to continue until they are stopped! But recently there’s been a change in public awareness about the damage we humans have done and now, to some extent, there is a level of environmental responsibility creeping into our consciousness. The environment gets good press after decades of neglect. But farm animal abuse gets virtually no publicity at all, because it threatens the huge food and clothing supply chains. The movement for animal rights brings this exploitation into sharper focus.