AnimistNugget

If you insist on putting me into a spiritual box – and that’s something I can do without – then perhaps animist would be the most appropriate label. Everything around me is spirited to me. What’s more, everything around me has just as much right to life as I have. That this is not self-evident for many people is clear from the way we, as a species, treat the earth.

I only buy things that I really need, preferably second-hand. Everything I eat, drink, use … I do with care and respect for the lifeform that loses its life for me. I realise that my survival automatically entails other life forms dying. Just like I accept that my existence may end because another life form continues.

This realisation is necessary to turn the tide of decline on Earth. As long as homo sapiens acts as if the rest of the earth doesn’t matter, it’s not going to end well. The fact that nowhere people dare suggest at national level that we should stop consuming just because we can, makes me fear the worst. I know no one wants to hear statements like this, but it has to be said.