The Plague Called “Human Beings”

I want you to close your eye and imagine the world before humans. What’s the first thing you think about? Is it dinosaurs? is it a green planet with no buildings? Or does your attention go beyond the plants and animals? Maybe your mind went somewhere more technical like to the layers of the earth’s atmosphere and how clear they were before humans inhabited the planet. The earth was said to be a better place before human beings decided to build and rebuild on the beautiful planet. Animals were free to roam and live their uninterrupted lives before us. We have manipulated and molded the planet to fit and provide for our greedy needs. We consume so much food and energy from this planet that soon there will nothing left to take.

This earth has given humans everything to live a sustainable life, and what have we done in return? We continue to take in hopes to satisfy our unquenchable appetite for more. Since the stone age, cavemen taught themselves to hunt and eat meat. There were no factories, there were no slaughterhouses, and there definitely wasn't a high demand for food that caused animal extinction in those ages. So what changes? The answer is population. “Humans are just zero point zero one (0.01) percent of all life and yet we have managed to destroy eighty-three (83) percent of all wildlife including plants.”(Carrington).

Humans have modified the environment to fit the needs of society. This has caused severe effects on the earth, which will become a worse problem if human overpopulation continues. Humans have built to their needs, whether it's for housing, business buildings, or factories. This has caused deforestation, pollution, overconsumption, and everything that is harming the earth. We have been taught to not pay attention to the damages since they are for beneficial purposes only. Little do we know, or should I say not like to admit, that the planet won't last long due to our consumption habits. Animals have been the first to experience the plague called “human beings.” They went from living a free life to be captured and stuffed in cages until they are needed for consumption.

We don't think about how the cow was treated before being slaughter when we are eating an in n out burger. That would just ruin your appetite. We also don't think about all the horrible things that make up a hotdog, and yet we still continue to eat them. We have become a race of greed and hunger where we will not stop until there is nothing left. We quickly remind others who dare stand up to animal cruelty that we as humans have right but we are just as quick to forget that animals have rights too. We are also quick to forget that, thanks to animal testing, we are still alive. “We must allow those beings which are similar (to humans) in all relevant respects have a similar right to life...some animals are sufficiently similar to humans in 'all relevant respects'; thus, at least some animals have a right to life.”(Singer).

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