scholarly journals Befriending Your Food: Pigs and People Coming of Age in the Anthropocene

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Trachsel
Keyword(s):  
Coming Of Age ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Companion Animals ◽  
Relational Model ◽  
Conservation Ethics ◽  
Imaginative Literature ◽  
Conservation Projects ◽  
Narrative Control ◽  
Radical Revision ◽  
Conservation Ethic

Geologists and ecologists report that Earth is undergoing its sixth massive extinction event, an occasion that calls for radical revision of conservation ethics. The biologist Edward O. Wilson has proposed that conservation projects in the Anthropocene should be grounded in biophilia, an evolved, relational (or biocentric) mode of perception that activates aesthetic and affective responses to non-human life alongside cognitive understanding. Because biophilia includes non-rational modes of perception, the nurturing of biophilic conservation ethics cannot fall to ecology alone; imaginative literature, for example, can prompt readers to imagine and work to realize more environmentally friendly roles for humans and, further, can assist in cultivating a conservation ethic suited to current ecological conditions. In particular, coming-of-age novels about friendships between people and pigs offer an alternative to the industrial “pork story” that seeks to gain narrative control of relational norms between people and pigs, at the expense of biodiversity and ecological health. Three such novels published in 2017 depict human–pig friendships, a relational model created by pigs’ shift in status from food to companion animals. In presenting this realignment, the stories facilitate development of a biophilic conservation ethic.

scholarly journals Economic Benefits, Local Participation, and Conservation Ethic in a Game Management Area: Evidence From Mambwe, Zambia

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 194008292097175
Author(s):  
Bridget Bwalya Umar ◽  
Julius Kapembwa
Keyword(s):  
Wildlife Management ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Game Management ◽  
Local Participation ◽  
Raising Awareness ◽  
Management Area ◽  
Conservation Projects ◽  
Property Destruction ◽  
Conservation Ethic

This study examines views on economic benefits, local participation in wildlife management and conservation ethic among 267 residents of three chiefdoms in Mambwe district, Eastern Zambia. Results show that 68% of the residents who live in the Lupande Game Management Area are not in any way involved in community wildlife management. For those involved, the main reason advanced for participating was economic benefit (79%). Only a small minority of 17% of the residents participated due to motivations to conserve wildlife. Human-wildlife conflicts induced by wild animal crop raiding, property destruction, and loss of human life, and perceived low or non-existent economic benefits seemingly precluded the development of a conservation ethic among residents. The local chiefs asserted wildlife ownership, lamented low wildlife benefits and justified its illegal uptake. Proponents of community conservation projects could encourage pro conservation attitudes among residents by addressing human-wildlife conflicts and raising awareness on intrinsic values of wildlife.

Conservation of farm animal biodiversity: history and prospects

2002 ◽  
Vol 32 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Hodges
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Resources ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Institutional Control ◽  
The Awakening ◽  
Animal Genetic Resources ◽  
Institutional Infrastructure ◽  
Conservation Projects ◽  
Convention On Biodiversity

SummaryThe conservation and sustainable use of animal genetic resources (AGR) is now recognized as a legitimate activity of public concern in which inter-governmental, governmental, non-governmental and private sectors are involved. Livestock breeds became threatened on a large scale only in the second half of the 20th century. They are now recognized as a significant human heritage resulting from domestication whose loss would deplete the quality of human life. Conservation as a conscious and organized activity is therefore a new item on the public agenda. This paper traces the origin of livestock conservation from the Vision in the 1950s and 1960s through the awakening of the environmental movement with the creation of UNEP in 1972, followed by the development of a Joint Conservation Infrastructure and Programme for animal genetic resources in the 1980s by FAO and UNEP.The paper describes the context, participants, constraints, opposition and activities of building the AGR Conservation Infrastructure and Programme. Although the concept of conservation was opposed by some and there were both financial and political difficulties, an effective institutional infrastructure for conservation was built by FAO by 1990 using UNEP funds. In 1992, the advent of the Convention on BioDiversity offered substantial funding for project activities for the first time through the Global Environmental Facility (GEF). At that point it was desirable to move activities from central planning to the design, funding and operation of local or national conservation projects. “Top-down” institutional control should have been replaced by “Bottom-up” conservation activities. Regrettably this did not happen during the 1990s and, as shown by successive editions of the World Watch List, the number of endangered livestock breeds has continued to increase. Now that the conservation vision is accepted and the institutional infrastructures are in place it is time for a new dynamic by creating and funding specific conservation projects which harness the local human resources of knowledge and enthusiasm.

Supererogation and the relationship between religious and secular ethics: some perspectives drawn from Thomas Aquinas and John of the Cross

2015 ◽  
Vol 77 ◽  
pp. 163-183 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Wynn
Keyword(s):  
Human Life ◽  
Thomas Aquinas ◽  
Distinctive Character ◽  
Religious Vision ◽  
First Case ◽  
The Status ◽  
Secular Ethics ◽  
John Of The Cross ◽  
Radical Revision ◽  
The Relationship

In this paper, I consider the fruitfulness of the notion of supererogation for an understanding of the relationship between religious and secular ethics. I approach this theme in three ways. First, I note a contrast between the virtues of neighbour love and infused temperance, as they are represented in the work of Thomas Aquinas: in the first case, but not the second, appeal to religious context changes the status of an action, so that it is now obligatory when it would otherwise have been supererogatory. I consider how we might explain this difference, and what it indicates about the distinctive character of a ‘religious ethic’. Next, I note how John of the Cross's account of the spiritual life, while tracking Aquinas's discussion on certain points, invites a more radical revision of the distinction between obligation and supererogation. Finally, and briefly, I argue that these reflections throw new light on a puzzle that is posed by some attempts to ground religious commitments in moral commitments. In all of these ways, the notion of supererogation turns out to be key for an appreciation of the distinctive character of a religious vision of human life.

scholarly journals Passage from Youth to Adulthood in Japan

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2021/1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Melinda Papp
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Japanese Society ◽  
Coming Of Age ◽  
World View ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Ritual Practice ◽  
Major Transitions ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Contemporary Practice

Coming of age, as one of the major transitions in the human life cycle, marks the threshold between childhood and adulthood. This transition involves the physical and psychological, as well as the social maturity of the individual. The present article discusses the contemporary practice of the Japanese coming of age ritual, known as seijinshiki, which although it is a relatively modern invention, is nourished by a century-long tradition of coming of age rituals as well as by the traditional world-view on the human life cycle. Today, the ceremony is facing a new challenge due to the upcoming changes in the age of legal adulthood in Japan. Seijinshiki is an excellent example of how change is integrated as well as reflected throughout ritual practice. It vividly reflects social processes as well as mirroring several problems that Japanese society has been facing in our own time. The paper will examine some of these problems together with the major changes that affected the various forms of coming of age rites in Japan across history. The paper also demonstrates that ritual continues to be regarded in Japan as a valid social and individual instrument to treat passages in human life.

Money, Mobile Money and Rituals in Western Kenya: The Contingency Fund and the Thirteenth Cow

2018 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 158-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sibel Kusimba
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Coming Of Age ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Multiple Forms ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Western Kenya ◽  
Mobile Money ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Moral Dimensions

Abstract:This article, based on fieldwork in Western Kenya from 2012 to 2016, describes how life cycle rituals collect and distribute different forms of money, including land, property, personhood, animals, cash, and digital moneys. It specifically examines a ritual coming of age for adolescent boys. By organizing multiple forms of money relative to the phases of a human life, the past, and the future, these rituals serve to manage and transfer wealth across generations and to give these transfers social and moral dimensions. The study provokes a critique of financial initiatives in the Global South that often assume that the financial goals of the poor are short-term.

Developing e-store marketing strategies to satisfy customers' needs using a new hybrid gray relational model

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (02) ◽  
pp. 231-261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wan Yu Chiu ◽  
Gwo Hshiung Tzeng ◽  
Han Lin Li
Keyword(s):  
Customer Loyalty ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Marketing Strategies ◽  
Assessment Model ◽  
Relational Model ◽  
Aspiration Level ◽  
Actual Performance ◽  
Fierce Competition ◽  
Network Relationship ◽  
Level Of Aspiration

With the increasing popularity of online shopping services, e-stores are experiencing ever more fierce competition. Thus, it is imperative that managers take steps to improve their services and ensure customer loyalty, and this can only be done by understanding their customers' needs and developing appropriate marketing strategies. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to propose a new hybrid gray relational model to enhance strategies by adopting innovation and creativity to achieve the aspiration level in each dimension/criterion of satisfying/promoting human life and convenient service. This new hybrid gray relational model, which can improve the performance of each criteria to close the aspiration level of each reference point, will address interdependent problems among dimensions/criteria in the real world and provide feedback. More specifically, a DANP (DEMATEL-based ANP) and a gray relational assessment model will be combined to produce an influential network relationship map (INRM), showing the influential weights and gaps between the actual performance and the level of aspiration. As such, the contribution made by this research will be to produce the best strategies for e-store managers to improve their business model in order to meet customers' needs, encourage them to repurchase, and to enable stores to provide the most effective and efficient service for their customers.

Perceptions and attitudes of gifted and talented secondary school students towards plants

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 266-284
Author(s):  
Murat Özarslan
Keyword(s):  
Gifted And Talented ◽  
Quantitative Data ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Relational Model ◽  
Study Group ◽  
Marmara Region ◽  
Good Level ◽  
Perceptions And Attitudes ◽  
Talented Students

The aim of this research is to determine the perceptions and attitudes of gifted and talented students towards plants. The study group was consisted of 140 gifted and talented students, who were attending the Science and Art Centre (BILSEM) in the Marmara region during the autumn semester of the 2015–2016 academic year. The study group was determined through the convenience sampling method. Relational model (one of the descriptive models) and phenomenological research design were implemented in line with the purpose of the study. Quantitative data were obtained using the ‘Plant Attitude Questionnaire’ and qualitative data were acquired with survey form. Quantitative data were subjected to descriptive statistics, independent t-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) using the SPSS 20 software program. Similarly, the qualitative data were subjected to content analysis. According to the results of the study, it was determined that, for the concept of ‘plant’, the gifted and talented students mostly mentioned human, life, water, breath, lung, air, oxygen, and sun metaphors. The metaphors of the students were categorized as ‘benefit’, ‘characteristic’, ‘environment’, and ‘negative thinking’. It was determined that the general attitudes of the gifted and talented students towards the plants were at a good level. It was also specified that the students’ interests towards the plants, the importance they gave to them and their attitudes to their daily use were also at a good level, but their attitudes towards the city trees were at a low level. It is understood that certain variables such as gender, grade, and duration of attendance at BILSEM did not have a statistically significant effect on general plant attitudes of gifted and talented students.

JACOB’s LADDER: Holotropic Economy

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-110
Author(s):  
Tiberiu Brăilean
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Economic Activity ◽  
Human Life ◽  
The Other ◽  
Oriented Movement ◽  
To Come ◽  
Radical Revision ◽  
Jacob's Ladder ◽  
Modern Era

Abstract Economic activity and reflection should be Holotropic, that is aiming at unity, instead of overspecialized approaches. A cosmic awareness is needed, along a radical revision and reformulation of human nature and of reality. In the modern era, the Hylotropic, matter oriented movement prevailed, imposing a coarser materiality and a marked spiritual devolution. This is how it reached this form of economy, based on selfishness, mercantilism and highly pecuniary greedy interest, a highly financialized economy and its dominance (econocracy) over the other social disciplines, over the behaviour and human life in general. It seems we are at the end of such a period and a new holotropic era is to come.

Biosecurity: tools, behaviours and concepts

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (5) ◽  
pp. 449-452
Author(s):  
Alan MacLeod ◽  
Nicola Spence
Keyword(s):  
Plant Protection ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Animal Health ◽  
Early Warning Systems ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Surveillance Programs ◽  
Harmful Organisms ◽  
The One ◽  
Biosecurity Practices

COVID 19 has raised the profile of biosecurity. However, biosecurity is not only about protecting human life. This issue brings together mini-reviews examining recent developments and thinking around some of the tools, behaviours and concepts around biosecurity. They illustrate the multi-disciplinary nature of the subject, demonstrating the interface between research and policy. Biosecurity practices aim to prevent the spread of harmful organisms; recognising that 2020 is the International Year of Plant Health, several focus on plant biosecurity although invasive species and animal health concerns are also captured. The reviews show progress in developing early warning systems and that plant protection organisations are increasingly using tools that compare multiple pest threats to prioritise responses. The bespoke modelling of threats can inform risk management responses and synergies between meteorology and biosecurity provide opportunities for increased collaboration. There is scope to develop more generic models, increasing their accessibility to policy makers. Recent research can improve pest surveillance programs accounting for real-world constraints. Social science examining individual farmer behaviours has informed biosecurity policy; taking a broader socio-cultural approach to better understand farming networks has the potential to change behaviours in a new way. When encouraging public recreationists to adopt positive biosecurity behaviours communications must align with their values. Bringing together the human, animal, plant and environmental health sectors to address biosecurity risks in a common and systematic manner within the One Biosecurity concept can be achieved through multi-disciplinary working involving the life, physical and social sciences with the support of legislative bodies and the public.

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