Being a tad green around the edges, I respect Mother Nature’s development and defence strategy, that everything depends on everything else. The smallest microbe is essential for the survival of the elephant because of the food-chain, pollination, dependent life-cycles and so forth.
Sometimes this interdependency doesn’t appear to be a good thing – like the ‘butterfly effect’ and chaos theory, where a waft of a delicate wing can, under a series of the right conditions, lead to a hurricane. But I still wouldn’t kill a butterfly because a) they are pretty and harmless and b) they are an important component of a food chain, as predators and prey. And it has to be said that, while very destructive, hurricanes have a part to play in the greater scheme of things and are overall much less harmful than human beings.
It might therefore seem surprising that, with a clear conscience, I kill as many ants, wasps, flies, spiders and rats that are required to make my home hygienic, safe and comfortable. Mother Nature has given them all a vital role, so why do I think it’s ok to squash an ant on my kitchen counter but it’s heinous of HS2 Ltd to kill butterflies? Surely the ant’s existence, upon which other creatures depend, is just as important as a butterfly’s and much more important than my obsessive-compulsive home-cleanliness.
Course it is, but there’s a huge sustainable and moral difference between killing one ant, when there are squillions under the patio waiting to take its place, and killing countless butterflies and other species, plus their habitats that prevent them from replenishing their numbers, and indirectly killing other creatures that depend on them.
The stakes ratchet up when the motive for killing these creatures is taken into account. I kill ants etc. for elf ‘n’ safety reasons, with a pinch of paranoia I admit. HS2 Limited kills, directly or indirectly, butterflies, bats, owls, bees, badgers, hares, skylarks, deer, and the rest, for profit.
Suddenly, my obsession with a hygienic home doesn’t look that self-indulgent.
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