Should animals be harmed to benefit mankind? This pressing question has been around for at least the past two centuries. During the early nineteenth century, animal experiments emerged as an important method of science and, in fact, marked the birth of experimental physiology and neuroscience as we currently know it. Animals are also eaten as meat and are a vital part of the regular diet of several people around the world. However, are these violations correct? As many would say that humans have no right to kill other organisms than they have to kill each other. This statement is not completely true, as killing other organisms for food is actually helping and balancing out the nature. Of course, we won’t kill our own species for food and neither would most of the other animals. This is a rule of nature. But eating other species of animals is a different thing and this can balance out the number of animals living in the planet. After all, if lions and other similar predators can eat other animals why can’t we eat them? But, rapid population growth can cause a serious problem as it can lead to excess meat consumption. Although this problem was mainly solved by selective breeding of cows, sheep, chickens and other meats, there were still some animals like dolphins (eaten by Japanese and other Asian people) that were very close to extinction. Hence, it is right for the non-vegetarians to eat specific meats, but there should be a control on the amount consumed. Species that are rare or close to extinction or cannot be selectively bred should not be consumed and instead should be protected. On the other hand, when animal experimentation comes into question, it is a complete different story. In this case, we can actually agree to stop these cruel experiments as it may look like it is helping mankind, but many of these experiments are useless and do not show any proper results, therefore sacrificing several animal lives for no reason. Even if these experimentations show positive results, there is no full certainty that it will affect humans the same way. Continuing such experimentation has no point and is completely unnecessary. At this point we can bring in the fact that we are all equal and killing animals for no reason, just because we have a more intellectual brain is morally wrong.
Growth is probably the main aim of most of the countries around world. However, this growth comes with several disadvantages, especially when concerned with environment. The more the growth, the faster the scare resources of the world are being used up. This includes some non-renewable fuels as well as earth’s only 10% fertile soil which has also been destroyed by excessive farming, overgrazing and cutting down forests for more land space. We can only control this by controlling the rate of population growth in the world. After all, we do not want to live in a planet filled with deserts and not enough food available due lack of crop growth. To resolve the problem of non-renewable fuels, there have been numerous researches done into renewable sources of energy. However, a major flaw is that the people have to pay more for using renewable resources than using non-renewable resources. (A hydrogen car is more expensive than a petroleum car.) Hence, we can say that the market prices set for products don’t include the costs that future generations will have to pay to clean up the mess the current economy is fuelling right now. Business and industry have always considered environmentalism a waste of time, only getting in the way of profits and production. However, what they don’t realize is that they can actually save money by protecting the very resources they depend on. Growth can also bring with it higher standards of living and a higher number of people working. Nevertheless, if people are forced to live in an unhealthy environment, it cannot be considered as a ‘higher standard of living’ even for the richer people. Therefore, people need to keep a balance between the amounts spent on technology and the environment. In fact, as stated before, with the help of more research, we can use technology and science itself to help the environment, create good jobs and maintain a high standard of living.
Hence, if we want to create a change we must act now, or else our future generations may suffer. Some damages to the environment are also irreplaceable or very expensive, costing us fortunes. We must therefore, change ways of doing things which are too harmful to the nature and the environment. We can achieve this by using renewable resources, recycling materials, using more efficient machines, stopping killings of living organisms for no reason, stabilizing population growth and preserving the natural landscape. Not just the businesses and industries, but everyone can help in doing this job and only this team work can help create any change that is going to make the future a better place to live in.
