Sycophantic purple dinosaurs not evil enough for you? Prof. Jeffrey Lockwood has an op-ed in the NY Times today about the environmental and moral evils of the Butterfly Industrial Complex. Seems that there's a heated debate brewing between the butterfly farm industry [main clients: riceless weddings, kindergartens studying caterpillars] and the butterfly conservationists [main clients: the gene pools of native/local species]. What do you suggest, Prof. Lockwood?
Kill them. Not the students, the butterflies. If the point of the educational venture is to teach important lessons, then here’s one: We are responsible for the harm that we may cause in the world. So once the butterflies have emerged, pop them in the freezer. Tell the children that protecting our environment is not always easy, that we must accept the responsibility that comes with bringing a life into the world, and that like other animals produced for our needs and wants (the industry refers to the butterflies as “livestock”) we owe the butterflies a quick and painless death.Actually, maybe this can be part of a new "Scared Skinny" campaign to teach kids the evils of overeating.
Butterfly Kiss-off [nyt via gawker]
Related: Ideas for using The Very Hungry Caterpillar in the classroom [eric-carle.com]