The Land Ethics II

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The Land Ethics II
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The Land Pyramid (Biotic Pyramid)

• Plants absorb energy from sun.
• Energy flows trough a circuit (biota).
• Layers. Upper levels composed of more complex
  cellular structure.

3
Food chains

• Lines of dependency for food and other services.
• The pyramid is a tangle of chains so complex as
  to seem disorderly, yet the stability of the
  system proves to be a highly organized structure.

4
Characteristics of the biotic pyramid

• Land- Fountain of energy flowing trough a circuit
  soils, plants, and animals.
• Transfer of energy to upward levels.
• Flexibility/ Adaptability.

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Effects of human intervention

• Introduction of domesticated animals to the
  wildlife.
• Erosion- Depleted nutrient storage.
• Obstruction and pollution of water.
• Transportation of stored energy to alien
  environments.

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Basics of land

• Land is not merely soil.
• Native plants and animals kept the energy circuit
  open others may or may not.
• Intervention, by human hands, has more complex
  effects on the land than is intended to.

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Can the land itself adjust to the new order?

• Biotas seem to differ in their capacity to
  sustain violent conversion.
• The land recovers, but at some reduced level of
  complexity.
• The less violent the manmade changes, the greater
  the probability of successful readjustment in the
  pyramid.

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???

• Our current philosophy runs counter to this
  deductions!!!

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Land health and the A-B cleavage

• Existence of an ecological conscience
  consequently, a conviction of individual
  conviction for the health of the land.

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Two positions

• Regards the land as soil.
  
• Regards the land as biota.

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Forestry cleavage

• Group A
• Agronomic approach.
• Consider forest as an amount of cellulose.

• Group B
• Manages natural environment instead of creating
  an artificial one.
• Prefers a natural reproduction on principles.

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Wildlife cleavage

• Group A
• - Sport and meat are considered basic
  commodities.
• Acceptable artificial propagation.

• Group B
• Worries about biotic side-issues.

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Agriculture cleavage

• Group A
• Food value.
• Efficiency- Fertilized soil is qualitatively as
  quantitatively superior.

• Group B
• Organic farming.
• Importance of soil, flora, and fauna.

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The Outlook

• The most serious obstacle impending the evolution
  of land ethics is the fact that our educational
  and economic system is headed away from, rather
  than toward, an intense consciousness of land.
• Lack of awareness of vital relation of the land.
• Tendency to see nature as an adversary.

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Key facts

• One of the requisites for an ecological
  comprehension of land is an understanding of
  ecology (ecological training is scarce).
• Stop thinking about decent land-use as solely an
  economic problem.
• Evolution of a land ethic is an intellectual as
  an emotional process.

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Links

• http//www.un.org/depts/oip/images/agriculture.htm
  l
• http//waynesword.palomar.edu/lmexer10.htm
• http//www.ccfcc.org/Picts.htm