The Land of the Free

Zackery Bigelow
Bio 1120-F14










Aldo Leopold said, We can be ethical only in relation to something we can see, feel,
understand, or otherwise have faith in. Through reading this article on land ethics, it was a
new concept that I hadnt ever considered or thought about. When I have thought about ethics
in the past, I have thought about morals in business, tests, or economics in our modern world.
With a growing society that is focused more on the economy then on respecting the land, its as
a widely used concept though is more talked about than in the past. Through my reading I was
able to understand more importantly that land ethics includes things such as grass, dirt, water,
animals, air quality, endangered species, etc.
While reading The Land Ethic, I thought a lot about different circumstances going on in
the world that are bringing more attention to this thought of land ethics. One big event that
happened in New York City recently was The Peoples Climate March bringing attention to our
worlds growing problem of climate change or global warming. This walk is considered one of
the largest climate marches in history to support this subject. There is also a U.N. summit that
will bring together world leaders from all over to discuss the climate changes and what can be
done to stop or lesson the effects for global warming. Just like with the quote in the beginning,
something like global warming that affects our land, air, water, etc., is a movement that people
can see, feel, understand, and have a lot of faith in. People want to bring to light that we have a
duty to identify our role in how we, through our daily actions, affect our worlds climate and
growing temperature changes.
Leopold states, It is inconceivable to me that an ethical relation to land can exist
without love, respect, admiration for land, and a high regard for its value. Though it does talk
about the economic value that is placed on the land, the value we must have is more than how
much it is worth in our pocketbooks. We must understand that the land is what provides us
with food, shelter, oxygen, and all other things that provide life to us.
While thinking about what my conservation philosophy might be, I found this definition
of conservation in the text. Conservation is defined as, a state of harmony between men and
land. I find this an interesting concept but needed in our world today. I believe that we have
resources provided through the land to use but that we should not over use them. The land is
here for us to use but not abuse. Though I havent been a conservationist by any means, I do
believe that the land is important and we should respect what it provides us with. One thing
that I have done almost every year growing up is hunting. Every year you have to put in for
different areas in Utah to see if you will draw out to go and hunt. Some years you wont draw
out and will have to wait until the next year. They do this so there is not over hunting but also
so they can maintain a good number of wildlife. I have hunted deer, ducks, elk, and many
more. I use the meat from these animals to eat and provide food for my family. This is a way
that I use what the land has provided me with to feed my family for over a year.
A land ethic changes the role of humans from conqueror of the land community to
plain members and citizens of it. It implies respect for his fellow-members, and also respect for
the community as such, states Leopold. This statement alone is exactly how we should be as a
community. We should be able to respect each individual and the opinions that they have.
Likewise, we should be able to work together for the good of the community including the land,
water, and wildlife. This leads into the respect we have for our land and what it provides us
with.
In Leopolds time, land ethics wasnt an important topic for people quite yet. He gives an
example of farmers in Wisconsin in 1933. The public was going to donate machinery and
materials to help the farmers if they started doing remedial practices to improve the soil.
However, even with a wide acceptance of this offer, after 5 years farmers were back to doing
practices that would provide immediate results in the form of money. They were so
preoccupied with the economic gain then spending the time to improve the soil over a span of
five years to improve the community in the long run. In todays society I believe that there has
been a lot of emphasis put on land ethics and more people are concerned with how we treat
the land. With awareness being brought to global warming, cutting down the rain forest, killing
of elephants to the point of almost extinction for ivory, and many more, we are spreading the
word in order to stop these things from happening. We care about the earth and conservation
groups are expanding and there are now classes being provided in college universities
nationwide.
I do agree with Leopold when he says, land ethics is extending to a communities
sensibilities to all members of the community, non-human as well as us as humans. We as
humans are not the only things that occupy and use the land. Being a first time home owner, I
feel that this makes it more real to me. I am able to get involved in the community in which I
live in regards to developments and different decisions made with the land surrounding my
home. I am also able to take care of my own yard including weeding to provide my plants with
growing opportunity, preen and fertilize to grow my grass, and provide life for a once lifeless
yard. Its rewarding to see life come back into my yard after a long winter of being dormant. My
wife loves tulips and we were able to plant some in the front yard. She cares for those tulips as
well as other flowers we have so that they look beautiful and are healthy. This is my firsthand
experience of where I can relate to Leopolds quote I used earlier saying that ethical relation to
the land cant exist without love, respect, and admiration for it.
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, stated Leopold. I agree with this
statement that he has made. My wife is a Jr. High teacher and is always talking about what she
hears on channel one news with her class. One thing that stood out to me was the killing and
poaching of elephants for Ivory. This killing for ivory is basically done for economic reasons and
is worth a lot of money. This situation that they are trying to raise awareness of is because
African elephants are now on the verge of becoming extinct. According to National Geographic,
the population has decreased by 64% in a decade with 1 in every 12 African elephants being
killed by a poacher in 2011. This is over 100,000 elephants in three years! Comparing Poaching
to hunting, it is very different. Besides the obvious being illegal and legal, one helps to keep the
community stable and numbers where they need to be and the other causes species to go
extinct and affect their biotic communities.
As mentioned earlier, I do agree that you cant have an ethical relationship with the
land without love, respect, and admiration. With any relationship, you need to have respect.
Through reading land ethics thats what I truly believe it is trying to create is a relationship with
the community including the land. When I was younger bees would scare me. Whenever we
would see a bee, wasp, or hornet nest we always would spray them to kill them. While I havent
warmed up to wasps or hornets quite yet, I have gained a new appreciation for bees and see
their purpose in our community. My neighbors are bee keepers. They have their own hives and
harvest honey with their family. When we first moved in, they brought us some of their honey
from those hives. Through looking at their hives, you see that each bee has a job to do in
regards to pollenating and bringing it back to make the honey. This pollenates the community
providing beautiful flowers and plant life. Local honey is also able to help with allergies. This
was something that we learned once we started eating the honey our neighbors provided us
with!
I believe after reading The Land Ethic, mine would stem from a true interest in non-
human elements. I want this earth to be a better place for my future children and
grandchildren. If that can start to happen with small actions of my own, then I will start to make
conscious decisions to help.
I do believe that reading The Land Ethic was a useful exercise and very informative. I will
admit I do not understand fully everything that was said in this article, but I was able to begin to
understand what land ethics really actually means. Instead of changing my opinion on the topic,
I believe it helped me start to develop more of an opinion and got me thinking. I feel that this is
a very important issue that needs to be addressed and am glad that we are starting to see more
involvement in protecting our environment.
Though we live here on the earth and use the land in a variety of ways, I believe in the
phrase that we need to leave something better than when we found it. That is a phrase that my
dad always used in our own home growing up. We need to take a stand and begin to protect
and preserve our land to help produce a beautiful planet for our future generations. Just like
decisions we make earlier in our life, they affect our future. I also believe that we learn a lot
from our history. If we can take the lessons that previous generations had learned and apply
those to our future, we can improve and learn even more. I titled this paper, Land of the Free.
The reason being is we have our freedom but that freedom comes at a cost. When we read
history books, even being able to become the land of the free was a struggle for many years.
Land ethics, though maybe a newer concept for some, is most likely going to be a struggle for
many people but has already come a long way since this article was written.
I would recommend this article to read if you want to begin to understand land ethics and
what it is. Thought it might not be an easy read, it has a lot of useful information that helps you
open your eyes to the history of land ethics our role in it. You begin to think about your
relationship with the land and how much you value everything that is provided by our
environment. I want to be a part of keeping this earth beautiful even if it is small and simple
ways like working in my own yard, recycling, and leaving an area better than I had found it. Like
Leopold said, We can be ethical only in relation to something we can see, feel, understand, or
otherwise have faith in. We need to define how we feel about land ethics, begin to understand
it and that will lead us to developing faith in it.

Resources:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/08/140818-elephants-africa-poaching-cites-
census/

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/09/08/3564319/climate-march-climate-
summit-new-york-preview/

http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/149966/