The Land Ethic

"A land ethic changes the role of homo sapiens from conquerer to plain member and ciitizen of it." (Leopold, 60)

Leopold explains his land ethic as a way that humans can be one with their environment. If the land ethic was reality people would respect the land around them. They would take care of it and not ruin it by exterminating plants, filling areas with sewage and promotions, or killing off animals. I think the world is far from a land ethic. We ruin areas without even thinking twice about it. Many people are trying to be more conscientious about these issues but fail to make a difference. I am definitely not one to judge because I am also guilty of this. Although recycling and avoiding littering are a good start, they are not a solution and not a way to conserve and love our world. I believe people should be more aware of what is going on in the world around them. This article was written sixty eight years ago and not much has changed since then.

Some of the pollution ruining our world. Photo by: foe.co.uk

"Despite nearly a century of propaganda, conservation still proceeds at a snail's pace; progress still consists largely of letterhead parties and convention oratory." (Leopold, 62)

Governments seem unconcerned with conserving the environment and the world around them. So my question is... Do they not care or are they just not informed about the world around them. While I was growing up teachers, parents, and other leaders taught me about conserving our world and explain how important it is. It's basically common sense to know that the world needs to be taken care of. So, if everyone knows it is  problem why do they refuse to do anything about it? I understand that some companies may loose a decent amount of money but in my opinion making the world a better place for us as well s future generations is much more important than the amount of money you have at the moment. Who gave humans the right to ruin the world and kill things just to make their own life better? There are plenty of other living things that are dying because of our selfish ways. I wish one important official would stand up for the world and help or even force the world to make the change.

Our environment affects us everyday. Photo by: commondreams.org

"In some instances, the assumed lack of profit in these 'waste' areas has proved to be wrong, but only after most of them had been done away with." (Leopold, 66)

People in this world make changes and do things without thinking of the consequences for the future. This is just one of many examples. This topic reminds me of what people say about the butterfly effect. This is the thought that if people were able to travel back in time, if they changed one minor detail, the entire world would change. I think every little thing we do to our environment effects the future of the world. So when we change things in the environment, we are ruining more than just the physical object. If we kill off one species, it could mess up the entire food chain. Killing one type of plant could do the same.We must be careful what we do to this world, we have no idea how much influence we have on it.

We must protect the environment. Photo by:reformjudaism.org