Land Ethic
Aldo Leopold's land ethic is perhaps the most prominent American articulation of an environmental ethic. Leopold's ''The Land Ethic'' was published posthumously as the capstone essay in A Sand County Almanac, and Sketches Here and There (1949). In the view of most readers the substance of his ethic was stated when he asserted that an interaction with nature ''is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community'' and ''is wrong when it tends otherwise'' (Leopold 1949, pp. 224-225). Leopold's ethic has drawn wide attention and conflicting responses, particularly after critical study of it gained momentum in the 1980s. According to one exponent, J. Baird Callicott, Leopold's ethic has been the ''most popular among professional conservationists and least popular among professional philosophers" (Callicott 1999, p. 59). Whether lauded or challenged, Leopold's land ethic has cast a long shadow; it would not be an exaggeration to claim that it is the central pillar of contemporary environmental philosophy.
Leopold's land ethic rests on an understanding that humans exist within an integrated community of life that also includes other animals, plants, rocks, soils, and waters. Particularly in his later years Leopold referred to this assemblage as the ''biotic community'' or, more simply, ''the land.'' Humans are ''plain members and citizens'' of this biotic community, Leopold contended (Leopold 1949, p. 204), and therefore have a moral obligation to act consistently with the long-term welfare of that community. That welfare is linked to the ways a community functions ecologically; to its capacity, under human use, to remain fertile and productive over the long term.
Leopold devoted considerable effort to understanding how the biotic community functions and needs to function if it is to retain its productive capacity. Late in life he synthesized his conclusions into a normative concept of ecological functioning that he termed ''land health.'' Leopold viewed land health as an appropriate and much-needed goal for all conservation efforts. Just before his death he encouraged colleagues in the conservation movement to embrace it as their goal. With his land ethic Leopold transformed land health from a communal goal into an ethical norm to guide individual behavior. As Leopold explained, the land ethic ''reflects a conviction of individual responsibility for the health of the land'' (Leopold 1949, p. 221). He restated that point a few paragraphs later by naming the elements of land health: Human actions are morally right when they uphold the ''integrity, stability, and beauty'' of the biotic community (pp. 224-225).
Leopold's ethic has given respectability to ethical stances that extend moral value beyond human communities (tribe, nation, global village) to cover collections and assemblies of living things such as species and ecosystems. It also has encouraged ethicists to take science seriously as they frame their ethical norms. Leopold summarized the complexity of nature in terms of the ways landscapes function ecologically rather than, for instance, in terms of their physical or biological composition. By making normative use of the modes of functioning of nature, Leopold invited others to embrace ethical stances that respect nature in functional terms. Leopold's ethic emerged out of a lifelong effort to motivate people, particularly private landowners, to live on land in ways that are sustainable. His land ethic, he hoped, would yield practical
Aldo Leopold, Seated Near a Shack, circa 1940. "The Land Ethic'' is possibly Aldo Leopold's most famous writing, and is one of the most prominent works of U.S. environmental ethical literature. Leopold's background as a wildlife scientist and manager lent itselfto the development ofhis environmental ethic. courtesy of the aldo leopold foundation archives.
Aldo Leopold, Seated Near a Shack, circa 1940. "The Land Ethic'' is possibly Aldo Leopold's most famous writing, and is one of the most prominent works of U.S. environmental ethical literature. Leopold's background as a wildlife scientist and manager lent itselfto the development ofhis environmental ethic. courtesy of the aldo leopold foundation archives.
conservation benefits in terms of improved land-use practices. He implicitly encouraged later conservation advocates to integrate philosophical ideas with on-the-ground conservation labors and evaluate alternative perspectives on the basis of practical consequences.
During his lifetime Leopold (1887-1948) was best known as a wildlife scientist and manager. His professional knowledge extended to multiple-use forestry, grassland management, and the challenges of soil erosion. He disclaimed expertise in agricultural sciences even though farmers and farm organizations regularly sought his professional advice and his academic appointment at the University of Wisconsin was in the Department of Agricultural Economics.
Leopold's early writings on wilderness preservation drew considerable attention, as did his accumulated evidence that wildlife conservation was in many settings best promoted by improving wildlife habitats rather than by imposing tighter limits on hunting, creating additional game preserves, and employing artificial propagation. The frequently quoted essay ''Thinking Like a Mountain'' in A Sand County Almanac has prompted many readers to assume that Leopold was comparatively late in recognizing the ecological roles of predators. However, a broader study of his writings suggests that by the mid-1920s Leopold was aware of the functional benefits of predators. A working forester at the time, however, Leopold also recognized that livestock grazers had a practical need to control predators. Further, he understood that predator control could help private landowners enhance crops of wild game on their lands and that game cropping, even with predator control, could improve alternative land uses. Nonetheless, by the mid-1920s Leopold criticized excessive predator control and pushed for measures to protect predators.
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