Ethical Harvesting

08 Mar Ethical Harvesting

Our world has been growing older and older with each passing day and the resources are going scarce because as humans we deplete mother earth of its treasures every single day. It’s no secret that our very nature is of greed and the lust for more. More power, more wealth, more of this, more of that…

Ethical harvesting, on the other hand, is a practice taken up by those who do not only understand that the natural resources need preserving and safeguarding against humans. Those who understand that our planet give us so much without ever demanding anything in return, and that very fact makes it an obligation to do something to protect nature.

So, coming back to the question at hand, “What is ethical harvesting?”. Simply put, it’s the practice that protects and safeguards the very soul of our existence. The harvesting of wild plants in their natural habitat like environment for later use is the basic idea behind ethical harvesting.

The process is slow and time-consuming. It requires a great deal of patience and learning, a lot like gardening but the difference between gardening and ethical harvesting is that ethical harvesting carries a strong message in the practice itself. Unlike gardening, ethical harvesting requires you to understand the balance of the crop.

Yes, you are to take from nature, but also to make sure that you return the favor and keep the life cycle. It doesn’t matter what you are picking from nature, you need to make sure that it keeps on growing there, not just for you but for everyone who has been benefitting from it before you ever came along.

The ethical practices require you to understand the very land you are harvesting, the species that dwell on that land and then their needs. You are to merge into the very ecosystem of the land not as an ignorant parasite but as an active member of the ecosystem. Your primary responsibility is to make sure that your harvest doesn’t disturb the eco-cycle of the land.

Ethical harvesting teaches you to be patient and take only what you need. It teaches you to fight from your greed and makes you responsible. This is exactly why it requires a great deal of patience and learning before you harvest. Ethical harvesting not only relates to crops but also ethical meat production.

You have to make sure that you’re not putting any endangered species of plant or insect and even more so if they are not endangered. Steps taken in the false direction is what lead other species to endangerment in the first place.

You have to leave enough in the field of wild plants that would allow them to bloom next year. You have to make sure that you are not wasting any of your harvests once you have taken it home. You have to make sure you have identified all the species and all the plants on the land before you harvest and then plan your harvest according to their cycles. In ethical harvesting, you are not the master but a mere servant of nature.