What's in it for me?

The Land Ethic by Aldo Leopold helped me look at nature from a moral perspective, seeing it as a living organism just like a human being.

Photo by lotr.wikia.com

"Is history taught in this spirit? It will be, once the concept of land as a community really penetrates our intellectual life." (Leopold 62)

Land is a part of our world. Our buildings and communities are built on it. But as far as it being a community, I've never thought of it that way. It probably should be treated as a community however, since it affects us in our every day life. I know that from the land we receive food, nutrients, resources, and life. I like the concept of land as a community.

photo by hilariousstatuses.thoughts.com

"We can be ethical only in relation to something we can see, feel, understand, love, or otherwise have faith in." (Leopold 68)

I think that Leopold is saying in the quote above that people can say right and wrong only to something that can be seen, felt, understood, loved, or otherwise trusted. I think this ties in with the idea of humanity being part of a greater community. If people would see themselves as part of the greater natural community then maybe they would care for it in a more ethical way, not just looking at what could be gained economically but how it will affect it and its health. 

"Land, then, is not merely soil; it is a fountain of energy flowing through a circuit of soils, plants, and animals." (Leopold 69)

This also ties in with humanity being part of a greater community of land. Why? because land is part of a connection of energy that flows through all kinds of organisms; even through us. 

                                               photo by myweb.rollins.edu

"The 'key-log' which must be moved to release the evolutionary process for an ethic is simply this: quit thinking about decent land-use as solely an economic problem." (Leopold 76)

Leopold seems to say that the main obstacle holding people back as a whole from treating land ethically is that it is looked at from a pure economic perspective without any thoughts on if it is right or wrong. Leopold continues by saying that it is right when the community's integrity, beauty, and stability is maintained; otherwise it is not right. (76) I think he is right.