Critical Connections (Asynchronous Session)
Animal Ethics: The Forgotten Dimension of the 2030 Agenda View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Joaquín Fernández Mateo
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a call to action for governments, organizations, and civil society to address the environmental and social problems of the 21st century in a comprehensive and decisive manner. We are reaching a point of no return with terrible systemic consequences. Therefore, responsible production and consumption is one of the keys to achieving the SDGs. This work highlights the impact of the consumption of animal products on the planet. The effects on biodiversity, deforestation, water resources, climate and health are decisive. However, the 2030 Agenda does not focus on ethics as one of the keys to addressing these critical problems. The different ethical approaches to the moral status of animals justify the transition to plant-based diets, not only because of the ecological consequences generated by animal product consumption but also because of principles of justice. The justified character of the moral consideration of non-human animals would lead us to a new symmetrical model of relationship between human and non-human animals that would "almost automatically" reduce a whole set of systemic impacts. The current pandemic has accelerated the digital transformation. However, under these premises, the modern technologies of the fourth industrial revolution that seek to improve animal health and welfare are ethically unacceptable.
Happy Vegetarian? Understanding the Relationship of Vegetarian Subjective Well-being from the Nature-connectedness Perspective : How to Overcome the Challenge of Vegetarian Unhappiness View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Jana Krizanova
Vegetarianism constitutes not only a diet, but also a way of life and social movement currently in expansion worldwide. Since meat consumption negatively influences the environment, vegetarianism helps to preserve the health of ecosystems enhancing people’s well-being. Yet vegetarians tend to experience lower subjective well-being. Potential reasons for this include social stigmatization, underlying mental conditions, or perception of the world as unfair. In this paper, we explore the possibility that vegetarians who feel connected to nature enjoy higher subjective well-being. To do so, we explore a sample comprising 1068 undergraduates and relate vegetarian commitment, accounting for vegetarian identity, and vegetarian self-assessment scale, with connectedness to nature for three different measures of subjective well-being, life satisfaction, emotional well-being, and subjective vitality. We find that vegetarian subjective well-being is better understood through individuals’ connection with the environment. Our results suggest that connectedness to nature is positively related, and vegetarian commitment generally associates negatively to subjective well-being except for vegans who have greater emotional well-being and vitality than other food identities. However, vegans experience greater life satisfaction while highly connected to nature. Lacto-pesco and lacto-ovo vegetarians also enjoy greater emotional well-being and vitality, respectively, while highly connected to nature. Considering vegetarian scale, individuals rating higher experience increased subjective vitality when highly connected to nature. Therefore, we propose that further policy developments in the area should consider the role of connectedness to nature in order to achieve higher levels of subjective well-being, while actively promoting pro-environmental behaviors such as vegetarianism.
Hog Confinements in the Upper Midwest of the United States: Interlocking Systems Resisting Change View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session John Pauley, Clint Meyer
Recent empirical research has demonstrated that hog confinement operations in the Upper Midwest of the United States are causing grave damage to ecosystems and human well-being. In this paper, we detail some of this damage and then argue that the economic, political, and cultural realities of the Upper Midwest are grossly limiting the possibility of changes that favor sustainable agricultural practices. Reversing the damage associated with hog confinements is then an enormous task that requires change from within multiple systems. The time frame for change is closing given the amount of ecological damage. Additionally, existing political, economic, and cultural realities stand systematically opposed to the need for change. Hence, the first step is to articulate the issues in such a way that reveals their urgency. In the final part of our paper we articulate this urgency and consider possible innovations to the agricultural system based on comparisons to European beef production. The innovations under consideration ultimately involve radical change in the interlocking systems that resist change.
