Aldo Leopold’s ethics are not only displayed through the book only in past tense, but also apply in a similar way to our ethics today. An author such as Aldo Leopold doesn’t just try to explain what he sees in nature and his surroundings but also tries to send a message to influence the readers. In A Sand County Almanac, Leopold tries to explain and help readers better understand through examples and his own experiences, the importance of our ethics and conservation.…
Aldo Leopold in “The Lend Ethic” explains to his readers what is meant by land ethic. It's a sort of combination of rules about what is right and what is wrong, and Leopold writes that it “is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community” and “is wrong when it tends otherwise”. In the chapter “The Ecological Conscience” Leopold writes that this ecological set of “rules” can not be written down on a paper as a book of laws, because “obligations have no meaning without conscience, and the problem we face is the extension of the social conscience from people to land”. What the author means is that people must take action by following the rules either written on paper or not. “Education must precede rules” writes Leopold in his essay. People should be more educated regarding the conservations they have and understand that without land ethic there is going to be no “place to compete for”. In my point of view, Leopold is absolutely right at this point and as a result, we can see thousands of species that are already extinct forever from the face of the planet. Our future generations will not have a chance to see them. As an example, Wikipedia Encyclopedia gives a wide variety of those species that were extinct and will never be seen on this planet. The tragic part is that most of those species disappeared as a result of…
4. Conservation of natural biotas and ecosystems does not—or at least should not—imply no use by humans whatsoever, although this may sometimes be temporarily expedient in a management program to allow a certain species to recover its numbers. Rather, the aim of conservation is to manage or regulate use so that it does not exceed the capacity of the species or system to renew itself. The objective of preservation of species and ecosystems is to ensure their continuity, regardless of their potential utility. Therefore, a second-growth forest can be conserved but an old-growth forest must be preserved.…
Leopold suggests that in order for people to properly appreciate the land, they have to experience it. This makes a large amount of sense to me due to the fact that without actually experiencing something, people don't have proper understanding. He states that decision makers must expand past self interests and experience the land by literally spending time in nature is a beneficial way to do just that. For example, politicians and corporate CEOs make decisions on what will happen to large portions of land without every experiencing it. Activists that promote the conservation of land generally have a better understanding of actions that should be taken simply because they have experienced the land and its qualities. In order to close this gap in differing position, decisions makers should be required to view specific lands and engage in the existing atmosphere. For example, a politician voting to change zoning creating the potential for a park to be turned into a commercial district where high rise buildings could be built should first experience the site. Prior to visiting they may not see all of the species that already exist and occupy the site including animals and trees. Without experiencing a situation, there is no way to properly make morally challenging…
The land ethic is a holistic view of ecosystems. It entails an entire view of a biotic community to include all of nature, not just the individualistic components which incorporate our environment. Great efforts would be taken by supporters of the land ethic' to support an ecosystem that was threatened. The individual components that comprise the ecosystem are not of great concern to supporters of this theory; they would argue that a threat to an individual organism, even protected or endangered, should be evaluated on whether or not the protected or endangered species does endanger the integrity of the whole system. A supporter of the land ethic argument would have consequences to weigh regarding the value of the threatened individual and how it relates to the survival of individuals of the group. If the group were to suffer a threatening blow that could affect the livelihood or existence of members of the controlling group one would expect that the threatened organism could be evaluated for possible "non-protection". In contrast, a Respect for Nature ethic believes that any animal or living organism should be protected because that organism is deserving of its own individual worth; the fact that it is protected or endangered would be of little concern to these supporters. The simple fact that an individual is threatened is more than sufficient to justify that great efforts be taken to protect that individual entity. The Respect for Nature ethic followers would argue that every organism is worthy of protection because of an inherent worth that entitles that entity to protection from destruction.…
In our world there are many resources, all of which people do not have a choice in sharing such as our air and our oceans. These resources are looked at as infinite, although this is not actually the case. Each time one person does something to pollute or use these types of resources, it affects the whole of society. This is the idea of the tragedy of the commons. This tragedy is the phenomena in which a resource may be used to such an extent that it is ruined for all. An example of this tragedy is given in the following scenario: given an open pasture as a commons to which all the herdsmen have a stake; each one will try and keep as many animals on the commons as possible. By adding one more animal to his herd, an individual gains a positive to himself but the negative effect of over grazing is felt throughout the commons. The effect, of overgrazing by one additional animal appears minimal so the other rational herdsmen conclude to add an additional animal to their own herd. Since all the herdsmen are thought to be rational this conclusion is reached by each of them. The effect of, overgrazing will become detrimental to the pasture and all the animals will die. There in is the tragedy because of peoples' greed to use and or need of a limited resource the over use or degradation of it leads to its destruction. The destruction of these resources leads into another topic discussed by Shari Collins-Chobanian as well as others; this is the idea of "environmental rights" (Collins Chobanian).…
In upshot, which is a part of “The Sand County Almanac”, Leopold describes land ethics and suggests that we should adopt this ethics into our daily lives. Also, he meditates on the issue on environment and ethical implications of the environmentalism. According to Leopold, land ethic is “willing limitation on freedom of action in the struggle of survival.” Also, he states “A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise” to define land ethics. He points out that land is made of interdependent parts and it is a community not a commodity. In addition, he points out that humans are not the owner or the master of the land community. Instead, humans are only part of the land which is a community. In other words, he emphasizes the community. He believes that mutual exchange between individuals is a key to protect the community and land ethic simply is community expanded to nature/land. Furthermore, he points out that everything in this world is required to understand the land. In other words, it means that we comprehend our place and other creatures’ place only in the context of the whole. For example, wolf is an enemy of the deer since it hunts deer, but wolf also can be a helper. Deer developed it keen hearing and running ability because of predator like wolf. In other hands, wolf developed its smelling ability and sharp teeth to catch animal like dears. Lastly, Leopards states that we should always value this land community and it is all of our duty to preserve beauty, power, stability, and integrity of this land…
Following the beginning of the industrial revolution, various environmentalists and philosophers began to speak out about our relationship with nature, and how we should treat it. Each person views differ but there is no doubt that all impacted the environmentalists of the future. This essay will look at three main players in environmental ethics: Immanuel Kant, Aldo Leopold and John Muir. All three of these men had different arguments for preserving the earth, and they all had different worldviews. All three of them have all had significant impacts on environmental ethics, with views that are still relevant, if not more relevant, today.…
A question that comes up frequently when talking about conservation is why. Why care about something small and insignificant to humans why waste time and resources? Shouldn’t we focus on species that are more beneficial to humans? Why not use our natural resources so that humans receive the greatest benefit, are we not just as much a part of nature as the raven in your yard. The answers to these questions are complex and each with consequences.…
I partially agree with the statement that nations should pass laws to preserve any remaining wilderness areas in their natural state, even if these areas could be developed for economic gain. However, my contrary viewpoint/standpoint/view might involve in a compromise between development of human beings and preservation for the ecology environment, if which not well be practiced, it quite be possible/likely that which could result in an out-of-control situation. Nevertheless I do not mean we should cease all development activities that are related to nature; otherwise we may be counterproductive.…
Senator Bill Brady stated, “Every time I have some moment on seashore, or in the mountains, or sometimes in a quiet forest, I think this is why the environment has to be preserved,” but unfortunately in our vast society, the environment is having a hard time finding a place in our competitive resource era. Acres of forest are being mowed down by companies to feed their ever growing corporate empires and without being conscious about the problem that leads humanity in a devastating predicament. Our environment is our life source, the trees, water, and to the animals is a huge part of our life source; we are too involved in our materialistic ways, with the wants and our needs. The problem concerning most of us is our inability to stop and question how we are getting our needs or wants met; we don’t think about the questions or issues, because some people just feel more comfortable hiding behind their wants and needs. Corporations buy up properties in other countries; tear down miles of land where there are animals and destroy their only habitat. Eventually, these animals die off, because they have nowhere else to go. We need to examine that our lifestyle is killing our environment and in turn will lead us to the destruction of ourselves. We are pushing mankind to the brink of suicide.…
One of the main reasons why we do not already see deep ecology values in our daily lives is because, as Arne Naess insists, “if professional ecologists persist in voicing their value priorities, their jobs are often in danger, or they tend to lose influence and status among those who are in charge of overall policies.” Naess believes that the current policies of ecology are founded on shallow, short-term human interests, which desperately need to change.…
Then there are ethical points about biodiversity. Most people would think that it is very wrong to do anything to endanger any species or tree. A lot of people have strong opinions about cutting down too many trees. Yes, we do need wood for a lot of things, but there is way too much deforestation happening. The rainforests are a speck on our Earth compared to what they used to be. Taking away all those trees means that you are also taking away homes and food sources for a lot of animals.…
* IUCN: International Union for Conversation of Nature: List threatened species—RED LIST OF THREATENED SPECIES…
“For the greenest of environmentalists, humans are of lesser importance than the abundant and diverse flora and fauna of the planet. Humans are defined as a recent addition to the livestock and are considered to have been a wholly disruptive influence on a world which was paradise before their arrival.”[1]…