Introduction - Aliens are using us for moisturizer
How would we feel if elephants ran around massacring us for our teeth? Or perhaps aliens? Yes, a race of technologically superior aliens have been coming to Earth for millennia in order to harvest human ears. They use the cartilage from our ears to make a special moisturizing oil which makes their skin a fraction more appealing than usual. Only the very powerful, elite aliens are allowed to use the oil.
The aliens have been able to synthesize the oil for many years but it's just not the same......tradition you see. Instead of taking a stand and saying to themselves, no more moisturizing oil for anybody because it requires tearing the face of living organisms that have no way to protect themselves. Instead, we will recognize that our need for human ear cartilage is for a trivial purpose and rather than inflict wanton cruelty against other living beings, we'll use innovation to find a way to produce what we desire. Thanks for being reasonable aliens.
Culture & Tradition
I understand there is a historic cultural significance for certain animal products and that humans can't help define themselves, to some extent, by their proximity to these items. The only way to challenge this source of demand is to try to change people's perspectives. Elephants are magnificent, intelligent beings who's very existence on this planet enriches us all. They help to shape the environment in which we live and to shape who we are as a species. They have been brought to the brink of annihilation through habitat destruction, ignorance, apathy and greed.
There are so many things that humans do or allow through sheer laziness and systemic corruption. If I created a list it would be endless and the consequences in the past, present and future would be mind-blowing. Humans seem to share in a culture of stagnation where creativity and innovation are constantly stifled by entrenched interests until they can ensure that these two forces cannot ever displace their grip on power. This power is used to stifle freedom and encourage ignorance which have a limiting effect on the evolution of culture. Culture is greatly defined by the prevailing powers within society. To me, this means that some traditions and our culture is of less value than it would be if culture was free to evolve and grow unfettered. We could all critically analyze the more barbaric manifestations of culture and with reason, challenge and change it.
Conclusion
So ivory is an interesting material. In the passed, it had many uses which made it valuable. There are some reasonably adequate synthetic substitutes or alternatives for all the uses that the material has been utilized for. The traditions and cultures that make ivory valuable are desperately in need of review. We should be horrified as a species at the barbaric destruction of life that feeds the despicable ivory trade. Perhaps we can all start to actively consider the outcomes of our behaviours and the cost, instead of blindly submitting to patterns of behaviour that lead to so much unnecessary destruction. A good starting place might be to begin imagining what you really need to be happy. Do you need ivory? Does it really make that much difference to you? Or might you be fulfilled by an alternative? Innovation can enable us to solve these issues so that more people can get what they need with less cost. In this story, (there are so many others,) it's for the elephants. So that they don't have to pay so terrible a price for their teeth. Which, let's face it, look a lot better where they belong.
