After reading the past assignments from The Green Halo, I believe that Kohak has made some very interesting points about ecological ethics and human relations to the environment. These points have challenged my accepted views regarding nature and the dignity it deserves. While I still have a hard time understanding complete equality between animals and humans, I did find it interesting how Kohak showed the development of human attitude towards animals and how it was effected by developments throughout history - as animals became more removed from humans immediate experiences and daily life, humans were more able to disregard the animals' own intrinsic value and treat them more cruelly. As stated in class, I believe his quote regarding the discrepancy between how humans dote upon their pets and then turn a blind eye toward other forms of animal cruelty was quite insightful.
When reading the Meat or Mercy section of the book, I was unsettled by how cruel animal factories and animal experimentation are. I had heard little about these cruel acts before this class, and it made me wonder how much more was being done to animals that no one knows or takes the time to figure out. When looking at the different responses that Kohak listed towards animal cruelty, I have to say that I would take the third course of action. I never see myself becoming a vegetarian and I still do not regard animals as equal to humans, but I would definitely like to see animals raised in a decent way and put to death humanly. While Kohak listed vegetarianism as the only true way to stop this cruelty, I have to ask if there could be a different way to bring this about in a more conservative manner?
Overall, The Green Halo has presented some very interesting facts regarding human behavior toward the rest of creation. While most of my beliefs still hold true, Kohak has opened my eyes about other acts toward nature that are completely inhumane. I liked how Kohak put that "..the purpose of creation is to give praises to God" (29), and because of this humans should show stewardship and goodwill towards all the world. This is one of Kohak's belief that I can agree with and it most encapsulates how I view nature and humans relation towards it.