Plants saved from humiliation and decapitation in Switzerland

Those far thinking Swiss have done it again with a new amended law that protects the dignity of vegetation.

Whilst clearly ahead of their time I fear that blogs and newspapers will simply report this story for its comedy value. Something here at Globalisation and the Environment that we do not condone.

Switzerland Places Ban on the Humiliation of Plants [PlanetSave]

A law protecting the dignity of plants? Laugh if you will. I’m down on my knees in respect and awe. At last the Western World is realizing the dire importance of taking other species into account.

Recently, the Swiss Parliament asked a panel of philosophers, lawyers, geneticists and theologians to determine the meaning of dignity when it pertains to plants.

Lo and Behold, the team published a treatise on “the moral consideration of plants for their own sake.” The treatise established that vegetation has innate value and that it is morally wrong to partake in activities such as the “decapitation of wildflowers at the roadside without rational reason.”

Over a decade ago, an amendment was added to the Swiss constitution in order to defend the dignity of all creatures — including vegetation — against unwanted repercussions of genetic engineering. The amendment was turned into law and is known as the Gene Technology Act. However the law itself didn’t say anything specific about plants, until recently, when the law was amended to include them.

One of the comments under this page has clearly got into the spirit of the new law. Is it really too late for vegetation everywhere?

There’s another term for the “humiliation” of plants: Wanton Destruction For No Good Reason is what the Swiss Parliament is talking about and trying to prohibit. The dignity of plants is part of - and inseparable from - the dignity of all life. Bringing about the pointless destruction of any species, including vegetation, just because one can, is arrant hubris. Humankind has gone much too far already toward self-extinction by fouling our own world until we cannot survive the poisons with which we’ve laced the environment. I actually think the Swiss law is too little… and too late.

There is nothing more to say.


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