Plant rights

Plant rights is a concept which holds that plants should be allowed some "rights." It is not clear how much of the "plant rights" movement is real or how much is a hoax; some of it may be driven by those who wish to denigrate the animal rights movement by association.An attempt to create plant rights by the right The concept of plant rights is held to be somewhat analogous to the concept of animal rights, however it is vastly less significant.
Nevertheless, it certainly gives right-wing bloggers and authors something to gasp and rage over. For instance, according to an article published in the Weekly Standard authored by Wesley J. Smith, a senior member of the intelligent design-supporting Discovery Institute, "plant rights" is a "seriously debated" concept.The Silent Scream of the Asparagus Weeklystandard.com
Advocates of plant rights (or possibly parodists, which is the best case scenario) argue:
Advocates of plant rights describe the unnecessary eating of plants or indiscriminate killing of plants as "plant genocide."The plant liberation front The America's Intelligence Wire
While plant rights have few legitimate champions, some people will write editorials or letters to the editor that criticize veganism and vegetarianism by claiming that "plants feel pain" and other plant rights claptrap, in an attempt to take the moral high ground from vegans and vegetarians (usually, so they can argue that eating meat is okay).What If Plants Feel Pain?, Jo Stepaniak.Absurdity of Plant Pain, Tabish Qureshi.
However, even some people who dismiss plant rights as ridiculous would oppose the gratuitous chopping-down of mature trees, and in many jurisdictions trees have some legal protection.A brief guide to legislation for trees, The Arboricultural Association
==Universal Declarations of Plant Rights==
The Avepalmas, a Venezuelan environmentalist organization, has promoted the Universal Declaration of Plant Rights (UDPR).Declaration of plant rightsSven Nehlin, Universal Declaration of Plant Rights (UDPR) 'baptized' in Caracas with the green leaves of a fern tree, VHeadline.com, December 10, 2004. The UDPR is approved by government organizations like the Venezuelan Society of Natural Sciences (Sociedad Venezolana de Ciencias Naturales), representatives of the Venezuelan botanical gardens, non-government organizations like Friends of the Trees Society (Sociedad Amigos del Arbol, SADARBOL), Caracas Garden Club, Caracas Hiker Center (Centro Excursionistas Caracas, CEC) and other conservationist organizations. There are twenty two individual articles in the UDPR.Universal Declarations of Plant Rights, Avepalmas
==Swiss government's recognition of plant rights==
In April 2008 the Swiss government produced a discussion document "The dignity of living beings with regard to plants".The dignity of living beings with regard to plants — Swiss government They naturally included a comment about proportionality saying they felt "any action with or towards plants that serves the self-preservation of humans to be morally justified."
This thoughtful discussion document reported majority and minority positions about the use of plants. It was shortly sensationalized in various ways, including claims that the Swiss had added to their constitution a provision requiring "account to be taken of the dignity of creation when handling animals, plants and other organisms", and a Swiss government panel had determined that humans cannot claim "absolute ownership" over plants.
In fact, as of 2010 this material had not been incorporated into the Swiss constitution.Swiss constitution 2010 in English
Notwithstanding this, The Wall Street Journal in an article in October 2008 titled "Switzerland's Green Power Revolution: Ethicists Ponder Plants' Rights" reported, "Last spring, this small Alpine nation began mandating that geneticists conduct their research without trampling on a plant's dignity."Gautam Naik, Switzerland's Green Power Revolution: Ethicists Ponder Plants' Rights, The Wall Street Journal, October 10, 2008. The Swiss Parliament asked a panel of philosophers, lawyers, geneticists and theologians to establish a rule to protect the dignity of plants. The team published a 22-page treatise on "the moral consideration of plants for their own sake", and declared arbitrary harm to plants such as "decapitation of wildflowers at the roadside without rational reason" is unethical. The report, prepared by the Federal Ethics Committee on Non-Human Biotechnology (ECNH), described interfering with plants without a valid reason as "morally inadmissible".Swiss experts say plants have rights too Swissinfo
More imaginative and sensationalist reporting claimed that a "new law" enacted by the Swiss parliament protected the dignity of plants and banned humiliation of plants.Switzerland Places Ban on the Humiliation of Plants According to the "new law," abuses such as "decapitation of wildflowers at the roadside without rational reason" is punishable offense.Swiss Plants Have Rights
==Central arguments==
The core arguments provided by advocates of plant rights are:
* Plants are living beings like animals and humans and deserve the same treatment as animals or humans.
* Malcolm Wilkins, a British professor, told a science conference in Loughborough, England that plants are extremely sensitive organisms and are much more sophisticated than people think. He also said plants even make inaudible noise when they want water.Plants have feelings too, Chicago Tribune 
* Plant rights advocates argue since plants feel pain, it is unethical and cruel to kill plants.
==Organizations==
* Party for the PlantsHomepage of the party (translated) (Dutch: Partij voor de PlantenOrignial homepage of the party (Dutch) or PvdP) is a Dutch political party founded in 2010. Pieter Baas, former director of the National Herbarium of the Netherlands, was one of its founders. The party made its public debut with an interview on a local radio. The party is opposed to the use of plants for production of biofuel.Plant rights party to contest next Dutch election, ReutersPlant rights party to contest next election in Netherlands, The Brunei Times, March 31, 2010. According to the Robert Schuman Foundation, a French think tank that conducts research on the European Union and its policies, the PvdP focuses on "global warming, the protection of sustainable growth and biodiversity."General Elections in the Netherlands: 9th June 2010, Robert Schuman Foundation Reuters reported on March 29, 2010 that the party planed to contest parliamentary elections in the Netherlands in June 9, 2010. According to the party, most decisions about the organization of society is not separated from their effects on the natural world. Party leader Rolf Rose called for the introduction of "tile tax".Partij voor de Planten naar Den Haag? (Dutch) March 29, 2010. Translated version of the same page March 29, 2010. According to Rose, more gardens are disappearing due to the tiles.[tt_news=352805&cHash=e94e4a1ebae0e04ec94c9a17f6d8dfb0 Partij voor de Planten], Vara. [tt_news%3D352805%26cHash%3De94e4a1ebae0e04ec94c9a17f6d8dfb0 Translated version of the same page] According to the manifesto of the party, food that is grown using fertilizers (which the party describes as a non-renewable source) and "ecosystem disruption" are not sustainable. PvdP emphasizes on moving the agricultural sector to sustainable production and permaculture.Party manifesto (translated) Teo Wams, director of Nature of Nature (Dutch: Natuurbeheer van Natuurmonumenten), found the party an interesting initiative and said that if there are animal rights parties, plant rights parties can surely exist. It should be noted though that the party is very small and low profile, and most Dutch people have never heard of them.
* Plant Liberation Front is a non-profit organization advocating plant rights. PLF was established in 1985. It is a batshit insane but non-violent movement and has four types of membership: Activist, Advocate, Curious, Student. Plant Liberation Front
==Criticism==
The concept of plant rights has attracted criticism from sane people everywhere and it seems especially from conservatives who believe "the concept of animal rights (and now, plant rights as well) undermine critical thinking about the uniqueness of the human species."The American Spectator
Wesley J. Smith, a senior member of the far-right, intelligent design-supporting Discovery Institute, criticized the far-left concept of plant rights. Regarding the Swiss government's effort to protect plant rights, Smith said,The Silent Scream of the Asparagus Weeklystandard.com
After the Swiss government report, Yves Poirier, a molecular biologist at the University of Lausanne said, "Where does it stop? Should we now defend the dignity of microbes and viruses?" Poirier believes the Swiss report is flawed. Christof Sautter, a Swiss botanist, is embarrassed to mention the new plant dignity report to his American colleagues. He said, "They'll (Americans) think Swiss people are crazy."When really, besides these nutjobs, it's just Erich von Däniken‎‎.
The concept of plant rights is criticized by the pseudoscience-promoter Young Earth creationist organization Creation Ministries International (CMI). Lita Cosner of the CMI in an article titled "‘Plants rights’? The latest evolutionary absurdity" claimed plants do not feel pain and described plant rights as an "absurd idea".Lita Cosner, ‘Plants rights’? The latest evolutionary absurdity, Creation Ministries International (CMI), April 30, 2009. Bob McCarty, a right-wing political activist and blogger, criticized plant rights in his blog Bob McCarty Writes.Bob McCarty, Plant Rights Movement En Route to America, Bob McCarty Writes, May 6, 2008.
The concept of plant rights is sometimes used not out of genuine concern for plants, but rather as a reductio ad absurdum to discredit animal rights and veganism,Natalie Angier, Sorry, Vegans: Brussels Sprouts Like to Live, Too and advocates of these positions are therefore critical of the concept.The Guardian, Birds and the BeesJakub Marian, 'But plants have feelings too' argument against veganism
==In conclusion==
Either environmentalism gone mad, moral panic, or Poe's Law in action.
==See also==
*Animal rights
*Hard green
*Human rights
*Consciousness
==External links==
*
*Plant FAQs
*The Dignity of Living Beings with Regard to Plants, the English-language brochure on plant rights put out by the Swiss ethics panel
*On Respect for Plants
==References==
Category:Hard green
Category:Parodists
Category:Plants
Category:Rights