What is Human-centrism?

Human-centrism or anthropocentrism is a widely shared, unconscious worldview that humans alone possess intrinsic value and that nature and all other beings hold value only in their ability to serve humans.

Such a worldview tells us we are superior to the rest of nature and thus entitled to have absolute power of life and death over nonhumans, both domestic and wild, as well as to have aggressive control over all natural and geographical space.

This human-centered perspective and our corresponding attitudes and behaviours are an underlying cause of our current ecological crisis.

Humanized Earth

In order to support nearly 8 billion of us humans we have fully humanized Earth. Non-human animals have been designated as either “livestock” or managed wildlife, both of which are under strict human control. Fish and their habitats are denoted “fish stock” and “fisheries”.

Landscapes have been turned into constructed environments while entire biomes have been replaced by farmland to grow food for us and our livestock. Wild plants have been replaced by cultivated plants and some token wildlife species are allowed to exist in increasingly smaller spaces.

By producing the equivalent of five continent-size garbage patches, we have transformed our land and seas into a landfill.

Animals as Products

Killing coyotes and sharks for entertainment and slaughtering wild animals such as elephants, rhinos, lions, tigers, and other wild animals to “harvest” parts of their body are all examples of the same human-supremacist worldview. Over the last 50 years since the human population has doubled from four to eight billion, the populations of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish has declined by 68%.

Approximately 70 billion land animals are slaughtered each year to meet our insatiable appetite for meat and dairy. This number is expected to double to 140 billion animals by 2050. In addition to being the victims of abysmal cruelty, land animals used as “livestock” now also represent the majority (60%) of the mammal population by weight. Wild land and sea mammals make up only 4% while we make up the rest of the 36%.

Agriculture and Species Extinction

Agriculture and Environmental Degradation

Livestock production is also a leading cause of climate change, soil loss, water and nutrient pollution, and decreases of apex predators and wild herbivores, compounding pressures on ecosystems and biodiversity. It contributes at least 30% of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions.

It also claims 70% of the freshwater humans use and, in the process, it deprives millions of freshwater creatures of their home. Streams, rivers, lakes, wetlands, and estuaries around the world are fouled or deadened by agricultural runoff and farm animal excrement—all to continue to feed our growing population.

It’s Bigger Than Climate Change

Climate change is creating an ongoing destructive feedback loop. The worsening climate causes species extinctions and depopulation and the resulting loss of biodiversity leads to even greater climate change.

The ongoing sixth mass extinction may be the most serious environmental threat to the persistence of civilization, because it is irreversible. It is estimated that the current rate of plant and animal species extinction is between 100 and 1,000 times higher than the pre-human background rate of extinction.

Climate change has penetrated public awareness because its effects directly threaten humanity and civilization. But ongoing mass extinction and destruction of the web of life may ultimately be the greater existential threat. Without a healthy ecosphere, humanity cannot hope to survive and thrive.

Our Vision for an Eco-centric Worldview

We envision a future where our human footprint is in balance with life on earth, enabling all species to thrive. Such a vision requires us to adopt an eco-centric worldview that recognizes the ecosphere as central in importance and attempts to redress the imbalance created by human-centric thinking.

An eco-centric worldview demands us to transition to a far smaller human population, curb our voracious appetite for carbon, shift from industrial agriculture to genuinely sustainable and humane food systems, and shrink the world’s economies. As humanity scales back both its numbers and impact on the planet, it can return to being a small but significant subsystem of our rich global biodiverse ecosystem, in which nature and animals will have inherent worth, and human habitations and land uses will be nestled within a sea of wilderness..

We promote these values through education and collaboration.

Education

We offer the following services free of charge to help make the connections between human-centrism, overpopulation, and ecological collapse, as well as solutions.

• Classroom and community presentations

• Conference presentations

• Podcast interviews with experts in the field

• Webinar panels with experts in the field

• Meetup discussions with community members

Collaboration

We support and partner with organizations that advocate for rights of nature and rights of non-human animals through initiatives such as:

• Campaigning for the rights of nature, and rewilding nature

• Protecting animals from harm and cruelty, and promoting plant-based diets

• Redirecting farming subsidies to environmental protection and restoration strategies, e.g. climate change mitigation

• Supporting the Integration of eco-centrism and sustainable population into school curricula