In this chapter titled "Wilderness," the author is discussing how man has tampered with what was originally created by Mr. Almighty, named wilderness. He is also discussing issues surrounding the preservation, adversaries, exhaustion, and the breaking down of wilderness for the transportation and industrialization of today's society. The author mentioned how some certain values of wilderness should be preserved that can be lost and never found. The author argues, some parts of wilderness many of us will be able to view, but things like prairie flowers by the thousands, virgin pineries of the Lake States, and huge hardwoods shall never be seen again. Mr. Leopold speaks about the shrinking coastlines,…
Never has a man left the embrace of nature once he found himself enamored by it; this infatuation is found in both John Muir’s and Aldo Leopold’s writing, a sense of wanting to protect this deity they call Mother Nature, a moral and ethical responsibility which every human being has to this Mother. Both John Muir and Aldo Leopold recount their almost romantic encounter with Mother Nature in their books Our National Parks and A Sand County Almanac, respectively. However, in both books it is notable that each man carries instilled in the very fiber of their being a sense of dissatisfaction toward the process of mechanization and industrialization; processes which unfortunately…
"That land is a community is the basic concept of ecology, but that land is to be loved and respected is an extension of ethics. That land yields a cultural harvest is a fact long known, but lately forgotten."…
Arizona’s wine industry is growing, and it’s no surprise. After all, the state’s volcanic soil, warm daytime and cold nighttime temperatures make AZ some of the best land and climate in the U.S. for growing wine grapes.…
In the essay “Good Oak” in part one of A Sand County Almanac, Leopold is supplied with wood from an oak tree to warm himself on the cold winter days and nights. One night the Oak is struck by a bolt of lightning and it is decided by Leopold and other woodsmen to remove the damaged tree. As Leopold and the other men cut through the tree they witness the same history experienced by the Oak. They cut through the rings and go backwards into time. Each ring represents one year the tree stood tall. I choose this essay not because of a personal experience, but because the essay inspired me. While I was reading the many essays throughout the book this one always stuck in the back of my mind. I responded well to this essay because of the way Leopold…
The land ethic In Leopold’s view, humans see themselves as conquerors of the environment, and this is the key fault we all begin with in achieving this symbiosis with nature. This can be referred to as the conqueror role- we think we know what makes a community “tick.” We think we can manage it, and be “kings” of the land. But we don’t know as much as we think we do. He persists there is an instrumental value to nature, and this is one of the reasons we have no choice but to preserve it, we cannot survive as a species without its resources.…
A ‘land ethic’ is a philosophy that guides and regulates the actions humans take when they attempt to change or use the land. I feel that people over use and over-work the land and resources that we have in the world. Sure, I like to have fancy things but when I think about the fact that everyone in the world likes to have these things they don’t need at all it makes me sick. We are killing our planet every day. I don’t like saying ‘we’ need to come up with a cheaper and cleaner form of energy because I feel hypocritical, but that is definitely something that has got to happen. It is imperative that we meet the needs of society today in such a way that we are still able to meet the needs of future generations.…
All of the states in the U.S. have subdivisions of counties, or county equivalents in the case of Alaska and Louisiana. The amount of counties in a state depends on how much land there is in the state. Some have well over 200, like Texa, and some have five or less like Delaware. California, which only had 27 counties when it was first gaining statehood, now has a total of 58. One of the 58 counties is named Shasta, a medium sized county in the northern California area at the top of the Sacramento Valley.…
"We shall never understand the natural environment until we see it as being an organism," wrote Paul Brooks in The Pursuit of Wilderness. Paul Brooks was accurate with his statement because if land isn't treated as an organism, it becomes property. Property requires ownership, and ownership then leads to a need for money. Where money is involved, a corrupt system develops, and a vicious cycle is sparked into action. Therefore, it is our duty to stop this cycle.…
Duty and responsibility to the living and non living aspects of Earth seems reasonably obvious to the common person. Humanity has been gifted with awe-inspiring and picturesque scenery and worthy resources that have allowed us to evolve past the belittled ape or animal. Yet, even through our actions in past and present, humanity has shown an aptitude for non-committal towards their obligation to the very thing that provides them with life. The over-industrialised world, monopolistic commercialism and disreputable capitalism have led to the metaphorical hell on earth represented in Scott’s panorama of…
In his critique, “The Trouble with Wilderness or Getting Back to the Wrong Nature,” William Cronon argues against the romantic conceptualization of nature that a great portion of the environmentalist movement has embraced. Subsequently, Cronon revokes the Romantic and even quasi-religious notion that wilderness spaces are separate from those inhabited by man. He argues that by eliminating the divide in perception between the human constructs of the natural world and the civilized world, man will be encouraged to take more responsibility for his actions that negatively impact the environment. In prefacing his conclusion, he writes, “Home, after all, is the place where finally we make our living. It is the place for which we take responsibility,…
Over the years, the planet’s luscious greenery, vast bodies of ocean, and clear blue skies have declined at a steady rate with the overtake of industrial buildings and pollution from technology . For the explorers and hard-core transcendentalists who devote themselves to living on the healthy and undeveloped parts of the world, nature and “the life and simple beauty of it is too good to pass up.” (McCandless 12/7/16) If technological advancements continue to occupy most of Earth, this appreciative view of the planet will no longer be attractive to those whose lives depend and thrive upon its bare soil. To some Transcendentalist preachers, like Henry David Thoreau, nature is also perceived as “daily to be shown matter to come in contact with,” giving people a chance to ask “Who are we?…
After reading “The Land Ethic” by Aldo Leopold I found that his research and understanding of land ethics is very thorough and he makes valid points that should be read by everyone in our society. He gives a different outlook on land that makes sense and creates a vivid image of the way that we as human should view land. He describes land as not just soil that lies beneath our feet or below the plants that we walk on, cut, or eat, but as the first layer in a community of which each piece is dependent on one another. If one piece of the community were to fall or not do what it is intended, it would in turn make it difficult for the rest of the community the thrive as it should. When thinking of land it makes it easier if it is thought of as…
In humans recent history there has been an increased noticeable mistreatment of the world around them. Humans need to know we are not the only ones living there, there are plants and animals and future offspring for all. Not only does the earth need to be treated well for them but it also needs to be treated well for us, because we rely on them for a healthy life. Many people may say that there is a connection between nature and humans theses thoughts are expressed in Annie Dillard's short story, “Living Like Weasels”. Both authors have their point of view on topics but both agree that human behavior needs to improve for a bigger better future.…
Aldo Leopold, in his essay collection A Sand County Almanac explores the natural world, and the symbiotic relationship that’s shared between plant and animal, while also insinuating how humans live in opposition to that fragile synchrony, for we live to reshape our environment for contemporary gains. Leopold is able to write the essay as an ecological historian, who’s knowledge comes from the topography of the Wisconsin landscape, the rings of an Oak tree, or a single atom entombed in a limestone ledge. The first two sections of the book gravitate around two opposing forces conservation and modern progress (scientific advancement, economical growth.…