The Land Ethic

1
The Land Ethic
By Aldo Leopold

• John Coffman
• Brian Milburn
• PHIL2500.001

2
What is a Land Ethic?

• A differentiation of social from anti-social
  conduct with relation to the land and everything
  that lives on/in the land.

3
Sequence of the Land Ethic

• Individual ? ? Individual
• Individual ? ? Society
• Individuals/society ? ? Land, etc.

4
The Community Concept

• Enlarges boundary of community

The Earth
All Species
All Animals
All People
Nation
Social Group
Kin
Self
5

The Community Concept
The Universe
1023 meters Or infinitely large
Our Galaxy
Solar System
Earths Orbit
Earth
Biomes
Ecosystems
Communities
Populations
Individual organisms
Tissues or cell groups
A Cell
Cells DNA
DNA building blocks
Atom
Electron cloud
Nucleus of Atom
Quarks
10-16 meters
6
The Ecological Conscience

• Obligation to the Land
• Sensitivity to Place
• Comprehending Consequences

• Texas Land Ethics Gunter and Oelschlaeger

7
Substitutes for Land Ethic

• Establishing economic-value based conservation
  system
• Relegating conservation efforts to government
• Conservation Education

8
Brian Lopez Arctic Dream

• What will we do as the wisdom of our past bears
  down on our future? It is a story of ageless
  conversation, not only conversation among
  ourselves about what we mean and wish to do, but
  a conversation held with the land our
  contemplation and wonder at a prairie
  thunderstorm, or before the jagged line of a
  young mountain, or at the sudden rise of ducks
  from an isolated lake. We have been telling
  ourselves the story of what we represent in the
  land for 40,000 years. At the heart of this
  story, I think, is a simple, abiding belief it
  is possible to live wisely on the land, and to
  live well. And in behaving respectfully toward
  all that the land contains, it is possible to
  imagine a stifling ignorance falling away from us.