Andrew Wetzler's Blog: Living Sustainably

Moral Consideration for Plants?

2008-06-18T19:13:39Z

Do we have any ethical obligations towards plants? Recently, a Swiss government panel addressed this very question--and concluded that we do.

Conservative publications, like the Weekly Standard, were predictably derisive about the whole notion. But I’m not so sure. We already--and rightly--recognize that plant species should be protected under laws like the Endangered Species Act. And last week the New York Times reported on the growing scientific evidence that plants perceptual and behavior abilities are far more complex than previously known. One scientist quoted in the article said that plants “have a secret social life.” There’s even an--albeit controvercial--Society of Plant Neorobiology composed of scientists who study plant behavior.

My intuition is that, as living things (and ones that are probably far more sentient than we realize) plants are due at least minimal moral consideration. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have the least problem with our use of plants--hell, I’m not even a vegetarian--but the Swiss panel’s basic conclusion that that we ought not to harm plants “arbitrarily” (according to the report, “[t]his kind of treatment would include, e.g. decapitation of wild flowers at the roadside without rational reason”) seems about right to me.

What do you think?

Eat It

2008-02-21T03:57:29Z

Today’s New York Times has an op-ed by Taras Grescoe about the growing problem of invasive species, a topic I’ve blogged about here at Switchboard before. Although I have a few quibbles with his column--Grescoe is far too quick to dismiss policy solutions to the problem of invasive species, such as stricter regulation of ballast water--his central idea about invasive is kind of cool. Grescoe basically advocates eating the things.

As Grescoe correctly notes, one of the worst invasive species here in the United States is the Asian carp (pictured below courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service).

I love to cook and was pretty intrigued by the idea. I wondered, is Asian carp good eating? Well, it sure seems so. Just click here to find some pretty tasty looking recipes. Others can be found here.

Our own Kate Wing has written about eating jellyfish and I know that she’s something of a cook. So how about it Kate, are there any recipes for invasive species in your neck of the woods? Chinese mitten crabcakes maybe?

Bye-bye beluga

2008-02-10T19:55:33Z

A few years ago, NRDC joined the caviar emptor campaign, an effort to save endangered sturgeon--particularly beluga sturgeon--from overfishing as a result of the caviar trade. Because of our efforts, beluga sturgeon was ultimately listed as a threatened species under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, and the importation of beluga caviar into the United States (at that time the world's biggest market) was banned.

But the price of caviar has continued to rise and, despite international protections under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the slow spiral of belgua sturgeon towards extinction continues. Now the World Wildlife Fund Russia has called for a moratorium on Russian exports of beluga caviar. Any slowdown in sturgeon harvest would be welcome. One of the challenges beluga sturgeon face (beyond the fact that folks are paying in excess of $200 an ounce of their roe) is that Russia's not the only player: Azerbaijan, Iran, and Kazakhstan also harvest beluga caviar, making comprehensive regulation of the caviar trade that much more complex.

For those of you who love the stuff, however, have no fear; there are plenty of alternatives available.