Leopold A Land Ethic

For this blog entry I will be reflecting on some quotes from Aldo Leopold's The Land Ethic. These are my thoughts, beliefs, questions, and/or concerns.

"Land, like Odysseus' slave-girls, is still property" - Aldo Leopold (Leopold 58)

In the beginning of The Land Ethic section Aldo Leopold he tells us a story about Odysseus when he returned from Troy. Where he hung a dozen slave girls that "he suspected of misbehavior during his absence". I believe in this quote the author is trying to say that we treat land the same way Odysseus treated his slave girls. It sounds like a drastic statement at first but I can see where the author is coming from there are times in civilization where we just destroy land for no reason but to build. We have no connection to the land it's just property to us and honestly I'm fine with that. At the end of the day there needs to be some order in the world. We all need to eat and live if land wasn't treated as property it would be very hard to create things like homes, school, and stores. There would be no order resulting in people treating the land as the please leading to more destruction than in the current property setting.

 

http://www.gurgaonconsultants.com/Land-In-Gurgaon.html

"Conservation is a state of harmony between men and land" - Aldo Leopold (Leopold 62)

This is a quote I love and can fully get behind because I do truly believe he can get to that state one day. When reading this article as well as others it’s very easy to get stuck in the frame of mind that you need to be with nature or you’re against it. I understand that those who are pro nature may believe the worlds conservation efforts are moving too slowly. This might be true but whenever you’re introducing a new concept like nature conservation it’s going to take time to get everyone up to speed. The point is though that efforts are being made through conservation it's not like nature is getting ignored anymore.

 

http://haerr.blogspot.com/2010/06/conservation-is-state-of-harmony.html

"It of course goes without saying that economic feasibility limits the tether of what can or cannot be done for land." - Aldo Leopold (Leopold 76)

I believe this quote relates very well back to the conservation issues that many pro nature people might have. Many nations in the world really do want to be pro green and support the environment but is it really economically feasible? For example the United States spends 3 billion a year on the Clean Water Act which "establishes the basic structure for regulating discharges of pollutants into the waters of the United States and regulating quality standards for surface waters." How many countries can economically do this? Going green is costly and would likely result in price increases for basic needs like groceries are us as consumers ready for these price increases? Money doesn't exactly grow on trees.

 

http://bemorewithless.com/how-to-live-in-the-land-of-enoughmoney/

http://www.nwf.org/what-we-do/conservation-policy/conservation-funding.aspx

http://www2.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-clean-water-act