Ethics with Allie: Illumination and
Wildlife Conservation
By Kate Alexander
February 15, 2022
After downing a full pitcher of hot chocolate and 6 steaming plates of subpar camp cuisine, my Camp Oneka bunkmates and I hurriedly skipped back down the cobblestone path to our small log cabin. Birkenstocks shook on our bare feet as we skipped; 12-year-old pony tails bound tightly with red ribbons, ready for as many physical activities as a camp day could provide. At bedtime, our bunk’s camp counselor would travel with us through A Wrinkle In Time, using distinct voices for each character and outlining fragmented starry skies with the fluidity of her words.
It saddens me that I can’t recall her name. She, let’s call her Allie, gave me something that shaped the rest of my life. At every dining hall meal our bunk would receive a sharp and warning remark from Allie before placing meat on each of our scratched yellow plates. Allie would tell us about the likely maltreatment of each of the species that the kitchen served to us. She asked us to approach and adjust our predetermined views of meat-eating by imagining the animals lives long before they reached our camp.
I didn’t eat meat in front of Allie that summer, mostly out of fear. At camp, all we had was Allie’s word, but upon my return home, I confirmed her wise words with my familiar friend, the Yahoo search bar. Kingdom Animalia was suffering at the greedy hands of capitalism, propped up by the food industry. At that moment I made a promise to myself. I would never eat meat again.
Fast forward 15 years; I have broken that promise countless times. As I learned more about animal treatment in the meatpacking industry, I spent more time researching each animal product and how it came to be. I was able to make more educated decisions and could better identify which animals had likely experienced unnecessary suffering and which had lived long peaceful lives. Wise people spend time to learn more about something and adjust their beliefs based on the new knowledge acquired. After some adjustment, this is where I personally drew the line: I refused to be an element in unnecessary suffering, at least in as many ways as I knew how.
I have been lucky enough to regularly witness small miracles in the wild: raw natural wonders that fill me with hope. I have come mere inches from the wise and sparkling eyes of two huge humpback whales hugging the sides of our small boat with their ribs and flippers. I’ve outrun a very angry bull in a tiny rental car, swum amongst the sea lions at a colony along the tip of Mexico’s Baha peninsula, come face-to-face with moray eels 40-some feet underwater along the pristine reefs of the Grenadines, and shared a cozy dwelling with a pregnant whistle pig. With every new wildlife encounter, my dedication to protecting the natural world grows stronger.
When a person has seen the wonders of the wild first-hand and interacted with natural life in such intimate ways, they cannot doubt the value and necessity of wildlife conservation. It is a non-question. For those who have not had easy access to nature, the answer to why we should conserve wildlife is not as simple. Being close to nature helps people understand its value and what the world would lose if it were to be damaged or destroyed. Put simply:
One impulse from a vernal wood
May teach you more of man,
Of moral evil and of good,
Than all the sages can.
- “The Tables Turned,” 1798
I believe our natural world and all of its inhabitants to be inherently valuable and worth overcoming great obstacles for its protection and conservation. John Muir, a revolutionary conservationist of his time, believed that nature has an intrinsic right to exist. Education about wildlife conservation and creating easier access to natural environments for the general public will lead to a better understanding of the exigency of wildlife conservation.
The world needs to create stronger and more overarching protections for vital ecological systems. Our local, state, national, and international policies and enforcement should reflect the basic requirement of human decency: to prevent unnecessary suffering at the hands of man. I want the public to view wildlife and its habitats as clearly as John Muir and I do, and as Allie once helped me.
“All life is of the same kind: a DNA framework and its consequent window dressing. There is one tree, one family of life, no other.”
– The View From Lazy Point, 2010
