Toward eco-justice for all - Environmental Harm: An Eco-justice Perspective - page 149

Animals eat animals; humans eat animals. The ethical issue is under what
conditions and according to what justifications ought this to occur.
The answer, according to Plumwood (2004) is to resituate humans in
ecological terms, while simultaneously situating nonhumans in ethical
terms. This must be done according to the specific context of both
nature and culture, however. Similar conclusions are apparent in other
discussions of these issues as well.
Ecological inclusion, for example, refers to the idea of establishing
the foundations for a new interrelationship between humans and
animals that is more respectful and caring on the part of humans from
within the perspective of the ecological totality. Conflicts of interest -
between environments, humans and animals - ought to be evaluated
not only from the point of view of moral criteria (such as animal rights
or animal welfare) but ecological criteria and by considering the total
environment. The perspective is inherently contextual.
The practical application of the concept of ecological
inclusion will always be dependent upon place, time,
and context and, therefore, solutions will vary. For
example, killing domesticated animals that have escaped
and established themselves in ecologically destructive
nonendemic wild populations should only occur if it can
be justified scientifically, culturally, ethnically, and morally.
That justification is dependent on the protection of, for
example, an endangered species in an area where that species
has little chance of survival, and only upon ensuring that
the nonhuman animals killed would not suffer in any way.
Taking the life of any individual is in reality a denial of their
intrinsic value, and denying such value in any individual
should not be taken lightly. (Bennison, 2010: 194-5)
Underpinning this concept is the idea that the entire planetary ecology
must form part of the understanding we have of the relationship between
humans and nature; that we are all a community of interdependent
parts. Ecological inclusion implies respect for the entire ecological
community that includes all biotic and abiotic elements. From soil to
salamander, water to walrus, plant to platypus, the health and wellbeing
of the individual resides in the health and wellbeing of the whole, and
vice versa. All life forms have an intrinsic value and inherent worth,
and even the non-living (that is, rocks, waters) contribute to the greater
whole. Thus, 'all individuals should have the right to have their inherent
worth or intrinsic value up-held, while having the ability to pursue