"I used to eat all kinds of seafood, but I know too much now. Both about how I value them alive and as individual components of what makes the world work. I'd much rather see grouper swimming in the ocean than swimming in butter with lemon slices."
She added, "We think fish have no sense at all. And yet when you think about it, they have eyes, we have eyes. And they have a heart. We have a heart. They have a brain, and some of us have brains, too; but sometimes I wonder.
"Fish don't seem to be greatly regarded. But if we knew them like we know birds, we would be similarly in awe of them and appreciate them for the beautiful, wondrous, important, creatures they are and the vital role that they play in keeping the planet just the way we like it."
Earle knows that all life is connected. "How could it be otherwise? We must be a part of the natural systems that support us. The genome of microbes, elephants, petunias, pine trees, squid, earthworms and humans is amazingly similar. The chemistry of life operates along certain familiar basic patterns. In spite of that, and it might seem contrary, but all life has its own individuality. You look at a school of fish and think they're all alike. But they're just as much alike as every kid in a classroom. That is, they aren't alike at all. The patterns persist, but individual expression is infinite.
"Really get to know a worm, or a frog, or a fish. Once you do, you'll see that they are part of life. They have personality. Most creatures do. You can scare a spider, you can hurt almost any living thing and most of them feel pain. They know pleasure, or at least absence of pain."
When asked what she hopes to accomplish next, Earle said "I think the most important thing I can do in my lifetime with whatever time that I have is to protect the wild system — the natural systems that remain on the land and in the sea. I want to encourage an ethic in people — an attitude of respect for nature. I can only encourage them to understand that we are inextricably tied to the natural systems that support us and it's in our best interests to do everything we can to take of them. It's not us versus nature."
Earle calls for reason. "In the rush to build houses for people or new shopping centers, or cultivate new farmlands, or our search for lumber, we destroy ancient systems that we don't know how to recreate. That doesn't mean that we shouldn't use wood, but we should cultivate the wood that we need and not make further inroads in these places that represent thousands, sometimes millions, of years of growth."
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