Critique Welcomed Lotus
- Thread starter Gary Ayala
- Start date
Gianluca Drago
Well-Known Member
Wonderful photo, Gary. Brilliant colours and a bee in the right place.
Rob MacKillop
Edinburgh Correspondent
Yes, the bee lifts the first image beautifully. It had me contemplating flowers as living things, in a pact with bees to prolong each other’s existence. This is a problem for vegetarians, which I was for twenty years or so. After six months in hospital, my body craved protein, and now I’m back eating meat and fish. I couldn’t rationalise eating plants as being less humane (for want of a more appropriate word) than eating fish or meat.
Anyway, it’s funny where an image can take you to sometimes.
The b&w version has a different vibe altogether, but it was the bee in the colour shot which sent me off down a trail.
Anyway, it’s funny where an image can take you to sometimes.
The b&w version has a different vibe altogether, but it was the bee in the colour shot which sent me off down a trail.
Gary Ayala
Well-Known Member
FYI- I've read a report in a scientific journal stating that cells of plants will react when under stress, (as in slashing or breaking the plant). The author correlated the cellular reaction as similar to an animal's scream.
Gary Ayala
Well-Known Member
Yeah, the harsh contrast of the B/W sorta puts the lotus in your face. As in ... "I'm a Lotus And You're Not!". The color is far more soothing and contemplative in a relaxing way.
Gary Ayala
Well-Known Member
PS- Plants and Bees in a pact for 'Life' ... is a better way of saying symbiotic.
Gianluca Drago
Well-Known Member
Rob, your statement isn’t entirely clear to me. Could you explain it a bit further?
I’m very fond of meat, but I always eat it with a certain sense of guilt. It’s clear that today’s consumption of meat is causing serious problems: health problems, CO2 emissions, and the immense suffering of animals raised and slaughtered in truly inhumane conditions, especially in non-European countries. At the same time, biting into a living organism with my teeth - and to be clear, I’m referring to lettuce, I'm not used to eat animals alive (well, with exceptions) - raises other ethical dilemmas for me.
And then there are mushrooms. They don’t fit into either the animal or plant categories, and I find myself unsure of how to approach them from an ethical standpoint. I’m so hooked on eating mushroom - particularly at this time of year - that I might need to check into a detox centre.
Jokes and philosophy aside, is the lack of animal protein part of your health issues?
Rob MacKillop
Edinburgh Correspondent
No. I was just highlighting attention to plants being sentient and intelligent in their own way, and that vegetarians who are aware of such scientific claims now have ethical questions to answer.
I might eat a little meat every now and then, but do try to source from ethical companies within Scotland. Local farm shops which surround Edinburgh, tend to be trustworthy. Likewise the fish we eat, which are delivered daily to our local fishmonger, are locally sourced and very fresh.
But it does seem we can’t eat without killing. A tough fact to face for sensitive souls.
I might eat a little meat every now and then, but do try to source from ethical companies within Scotland. Local farm shops which surround Edinburgh, tend to be trustworthy. Likewise the fish we eat, which are delivered daily to our local fishmonger, are locally sourced and very fresh.
But it does seem we can’t eat without killing. A tough fact to face for sensitive souls.
Gianluca Drago
Well-Known Member
We can't eat without killing. If we are allowed by our wallet and the place where we live, we try to do it as you do: responsibly. Well done, Rob.
Gary Ayala
Well-Known Member
For some reason this has me thinking (every now and then ... maybe twice I week ... I may think), It isn't necessary to kill to eat. For animal protein there is always carrion (just a little messy) and dead plants for other nutritional needs/values. With today's technology we can turn all the dead stuff into a Soylent Green soup. (Granted there would be a world drop in metabolic energy causing a drop population. But the populations of none human animals would, most likely, find this new none killing ethic a good thing.)
While picking a head of lettuce certainly would kill the plant, plucking out individual leaves wouldn't.* Then a question becomes when gathering nuts, fruits and grains ... when is something truly dead and available for consumption? Is eating a nut plucked from the ground similar to eating an egg plucked from a chicken? Is eating something, which has potential for life the same as eating a living-breathing organism? How about microorganisms? They have life also. All/most surface water is packed with microorganisms which we kill via filtration/chemicals/radiation.
Humans are genetically capable of reproducing animal and plant proteins commercially without killing a host life. But there proteins are alive, granted without a nervous system, but alive nonetheless.
I am all for sustaining life without death. But what would be the rules? Where are the lines to be drawn?
*We, (my much better half and I), hydroponically grow 'greens' inside the house and will pluck off individual leaves for consumption/salads, leaving the host plant crippled ... but alive to producing more leaves.
Rob MacKillop
Edinburgh Correspondent
I don’t know the answer.
Gary Ayala
Well-Known Member
Damn ...
