#earth

Each blade of grass has its spot on earth whence it draws its life, its strength; and so is man rooted to the land from which he draws his faith together with his life. ↗

— Joseph Conrad

#blade #draws #each #earth #faith

We can no more justify using nonhumans as human resources than we can justify human slavery. Animal use and slavery have at least one important point in common: both institutions treat sentient beings exclusively as resources of others. That cannot be justified with respect to humans; it cannot be justified with respect to nonhumans—however “humanely” we treat them. ↗

— Gary L. Francione

#abolitionist #ahimsa #animals #education #exploitation

I reject animal welfare reform and single-issue campaigns because they are not only inconsistent with the claims of justice that we should be making if we really believe that animal exploitation is wrong, but because these approaches cannot work as a practical matter. Animals are property and it costs money to protect their interests; therefore, the level of protection accorded to animal interests will always be low and animals will, under the best of circumstances, still be treated in ways that would constitute torture if applied to humans. By endorsing welfare reforms that supposedly make exploitation more “compassionate” or single-issue campaigns that falsely suggest that there is a coherent moral distinction between meat and dairy or between fur and wool or between steak and foie gras, we betray the principle of justice that says that all sentient beings are equal for purposes of not being used exclusively as human resources. And, on a practical level, we do nothing more than make people feel better about animal exploitation. ↗

— Gary L. Francione

#abolitionist #ahimsa #animals #education #exploitation

Those who know that the consensus of many centuries has sanctioned the conception that the earth remains at rest in the middle of the heavens as its center, would, I reflected, regard it as an insane pronouncement if I made the opposite assertion that the earth moves. ↗

— Nicolaus Copernicus

#center #centuries #conception #consensus #earth

Accordingly, since nothing prevents the earth from moving, I suggest that we should now consider also whether several motions suit it, so that it can be regarded as one of the planets. For, it is not the center of all the revolutions. ↗

— Nicolaus Copernicus

#also #center #consider #earth #i

Yet if anyone believes that the earth rotates, surely he will hold that its motion is natural, not violent. ↗

— Nicolaus Copernicus

#believes #earth #hold #motion #natural

I can easily conceive, most Holy Father, that as soon as some people learn that in this book which I have written concerning the revolutions of the heavenly bodies, I ascribe certain motions to the Earth, they will cry out at once that I and my theory should be rejected. ↗

— Nicolaus Copernicus

#bodies #book #certain #conceive #concerning

Pouring forth its seas everywhere, then, the ocean envelops the earth and fills its deeper chasms. ↗

— Nicolaus Copernicus

#earth #everywhere #fills #forth #ocean

The earth also is spherical, since it presses upon its center from every direction. ↗

— Nicolaus Copernicus

#center #direction #earth #every #presses

We regard it as a certainty that the earth, enclosed between poles, is bounded by a spherical surface. ↗

— Nicolaus Copernicus

#bounded #certainty #earth #enclosed #poles