January 2007 1 The onceonce aandnd ffutureuture LAND ETHIC The author of the defi nitive biography of and a longtime student of the relationship between men and land considers how conservation should adapt to succeed in the next century

ESSAY BY CURT MEINE ILLUSTRATIONS BY CHARLES W. SCHWARTZ

ILLUSTRATIONS FROM CHARLES W. SCHWARTZ: WILDLIFE DRAWINGS, PUBLISHED BY THE CONSERVATION COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF MISSOURI

2 Wyoming Wildlife Leopold opened wide the discus- sion. The land ethic might have gone down in history as the idiosyncratic expression of a mid-twentieth cen- tury naturalist, scientist, and writer. Instead, with his self-abnegating assertion, Leopold liberated the land ethic. He gave his readers a stake in the idea, and a responsibility to develop it. He invited other voices to join the conversation, thus ensuring that it would remain vigorous. Each of us as individuals, as members of different communities, and as par- ticipants in a broader culture, may help to “write” the land ethic. What forces will shape the land ethic in the future? How must the concept of a land ethic evolve in order to thrive and provide guidance to conservation in the twenty-fi rst once and future century? There are, of course, innu- merable answers to these questions. “I have purposely presented the land ethic as a It is possible, however, to identify at product of social evolution because nothing is so least some overarching challenges important as an ethic is ever ʻwritten.ʼ” a land ethic will need to meet to LAND ETHIC remain vital. Aldo Leopold (1949) The land ethic will need to embrace, and be embraced his sentence, appearing near the end of “The by, new constituencies. Land Ethic,” is arguably the most important How can the land ethic be nur- tured within diverse and constantly TAldo Leopold ever wrote. With these words, changing human communities, with he acknowledged the limits of his own efforts to different traditions and relationships to land? Aldo Leopold. Land ethic frame a large and complex idea. He understood that refl ected the social realities of his such an ethic could form and evolve only “in the time and place. Looking head, it is not diffi cult to predict that, as our so- minds of a thinking community.” The author of the cieties, economies, and demograph- essay “The Land Ethic” did not, and and insights from the natural sci- ics change, so will our environmen- could not, “write” the land ethic. ences, history, literature, ethics, eco- tal concerns. This will redefi ne what No one person could. And everyone nomics, aesthetics, and public policy. conservation is and how we pursue could. It was the culminating expression of it. It will call for a blending of varied Which is not to say that Leopold Leopoldʼs intellectual, professional, cultural traditions and values, with did not pour himself into “The Land and spiritual growth. priorities that do not always mesh, Ethic.” His essay distilled a life- Yet Leopold recognized the and that may well be in confl ict. time of observing, reading, writing, contingent nature of the land ethic— Fortunately, such openness and thinking, experimenting, blundering, perhaps because the idea evolved inclusiveness are in greater evidence and always asking the next question continually in his own thinking, now than perhaps at any time since about the very meaning of conserva- in varied landscapes. In any case, Leopoldʼs day. Conservation crosses tion. In it, Leopold sought nothing by explicitly framing his idea as cultural divides in a way it did not in less than to redirect the conservation the “tentative” expression of one Leopoldʼs generation, with increas- movement by blending knowledge member of a thinking community, ing appreciation of the complicated

January 2007 3 connections between healthy land- join, new worlds are made possible: scapes, communities, and identity. “Perhaps then we might fully imag- Community-based approaches to ine and comprehend who and what conservation require that people be we are with respect to each other invested with responsibilities for and with respect to this land. What is decisions that affect the quality and defined by some as an edge of sepa- of their home land- ration between nature and culture, scapes. Educational programs and people and place, is where common new technologies provide access ground is possible.” to information in ways that did not exist even few years ago. Faith com- munities throughout the world have The land ethic will need to looked to their traditions for affirma- respond to emerging sci- tion of environmental values. The entific insights and shifting environmental justice movement has scientific foundations. opened opportunities for honest con- How will the land ethic adapt versations on shared concerns— in to the insights that flow from the much the same manner that Leopold natural sciences? Leopoldʼs land tried to do in “The Land Ethic.” ethic rested upon a solid foundation As these trends continue, the ef- of interdisciplinary science, but that fort must involve more than merely foundation is itself subject to con- communicating the land ethic to new tinuous intellectual evolution. Over constituencies. Rather, it will require the last half of the twentieth century, expanding the “thinking commu- revolutions occurred in every field nity” and encouraging people to of natural science, including geology understand themselves and their sto- (especially plate tectonic theory), ries through their relationship with climatology, oceanography, marine the land. To neglect such diverse biology, hydrology, limnology, pale- voices is to leave, in Lauret Savoyʼs ontology, biogeography, systematics, words, a “strength . . . only partially genetics, wildlife biology, forestry, realized.” By contrast, when voices and the agricultural sciences. These revolutions have rumbled on beneath the surface of the land ethic. If it is to stand, the land ethic must be supple and flexible. In particular, the land ethic will need to reflect advances in the fields of evolutionary biology, biogeogra- phy, environmental history, and ecol- ogy. Over the last several decades, evolutionary biology and paleontol- ogy have recast our understanding of ancient, “deep time” extinctions. We have a much clearer picture of the impact of he human diaspora out of Africa on the worldʼs landscapes and biotas over the last hundred thou- sand years, including the period of Pleistocene extinctions that “set the stage” for todayʼs living world. Is- land biogeography and environmen- tal history have revealed the broad patterns of change that have shaped biotas, landscapes, ecosystems, and cultures over more recent centuries

4 Wyoming Wildlife and decades. In , emphasis conservation— more universal than we wonʼt save wilderness”; bringing has shifted away from the classic profit, less awkward than govern- urban and suburban dwellers into “balance of nature” idea to a better- ment, less ephemeral than sport; conversations about conservation; informed “flux of nature” paradigm something that reaches into all taking seriously the connections that accounts for the dynamic nature times and places, where men live between land, fresh water, and the of ecosystems. on the land, something that brackets marine environment. The land ethic In response to these changes, and everything from rivers to raindrops, cannot meaningfully endure if the others yet to come, conservationists from whales to hummingbirds, from fragmentation of interests prevails. It will need to incorporate the lessons land estates to window-boxes. I can will flourish if it makes connections. of environmental history and sort see only one such force: a respect for out the biological impact of human land as an organism; a voluntary de- activities at various scales of time cency in land-use exercised by every The land ethic will need to and space. This has already been citizen and every land-owner out of be extended to the aquatic happening in conservation biol- a sense of a love for and obligation and marine realms. ogy, restoration ecology, and other to that great biota we call America. How can the land ethic fully fields. But the land ethic is not just This is the meaning of conservation, embrace water resources and aquatic for scientists. Conservation-minded and this is the task of conservation ecosystems, and encourage an citizens must also become familiar education.” “ocean ethic”? We are terrestrial with these scientific advances to Leopold was not alone in such creatures with terrestrial biases. Only critically understand such issues, for expressions. In “The Land Ethic,” he with time have even conservation- example, as species invasions, fire was indeed speaking on behalf of a ists come to appreciate the essential management, aquifer depletion, and community of conservation scien- connections between groundwater, emerging diseases. tists, thinkers, and advocates who surface waters, and atmospheric found common cause, and assumed a waters, and between water as a vital common responsibility. ecosystem component and a basic The land ethic will need There was no past golden age human need. to extend across, and recog- when conservation united people Leopold explicitly included nize connections within, the across social, economic, and po- water in his definition of “land” entire landscape. litical divides. However, there have and devoted significant and profes- How can the land ethic help to been periods when the conservation sional energies to understanding revive and strengthen bonds of com- consensus was unusually strong: the human impacts on watersheds and mon interest within the landscape early years of the progressive move- aquatic systems. Aldoʼs sun Luna, a and within conservation? Leopoldʼs ment, the “dirty thirties,” the Earth renowned hydrologist and conserva- work focused on the health of wild, Day awakening of the early 1970s. tionist in his own right, defined the semiwild, and rural lands. His ethic Unfortunately, such consensus seems essential point: “Water is the most spanned a broad range of conserva- to emerge only in response to envi- critical resource issue of our life- tion interests. But changes in society, ronmental crises— widespread de- time and our childrenʼs lifetime. The the economy, and the landscape itself forestation and wildlife destruction, health of our waters is the princi- have undermined that fragile unity. extensive soil erosion, unchecked pal measure of how we live on the Conservationʼs constituency has environmental contamination and land.” The headlines give regular fragmented, as evidenced especially pollution, depletion of the earthʼs notice of the increasing pressures, in increased polarization between ur- ozone layer. The question is: Must locally and globally, on the qual- ban and suburban environmentalists it always be so? Or can conserva- ity, quantity, distribution, and uses and rural people who own and work tion go on the offensive and provide of water and the health of aquatic land. Conservation, by contrast, is all a positive vision of the public good ecosystems. These pressures are sure about protecting the public interest to be gained through environmental to increase in the century ahead and in the beauty, diversity, and health of stewardship? will inevitably raise issues of access, the landscape as a whole. To do so, conservationists will equity, and justice. Understanding In his more expansive moments, have to assume many chores: linking water connections and articulating Leopold tried to stretch his notion concern for wild lands and the more an ethic to guide the protection and of a land ethic beyond those parts developed parts of the landscape; careful use of water are urgent tasks, of the landscape he was especially forging a renewed movement for the not only for conservationists, but interested in. In lecture notes from conservation of private lands; rec- society at large. the 1940s, he wrote: ognizing, as Wes Jackson has noted, Until recently, conservationists “There must be some force behind that “if we donʼt save agriculture, have lagged in their attention to

January 2007 5 the oceans. With the popularity of helping to establish marine protected Rachel Carsonʼs ocean books and areas and develop (hopefully) more Jacques Cousteauʼs films in the sustainable, ecosystem-based fishing 1950s and 1960s, marine conserva- regimes. For communities whose tion began to enter public conscious- economies, livelihoods, and cultural ness. Although cetaceans, sea turtles, identity depend on marine resources, and other groups of organisms fo- sustainability is no vague abstrac- cused concern on the oceans, only in tion. As the song goes, “No more the 1990s did conservationists begin fish, no fishermen.” to consider more systematically the In this century, we will either status and needs of marine resources, remain mere consumers of the seasʼ biodiversity, and ecosystems. Once bounty or become true caretakers of again, however, consensus has come marine communities. Marine biolo- only in the wake of acute disasters— gist and conservationist Carl Safina depleted fisheries, highly disrupted writes, “People who think of them- marine food webs, expanding “dead selves as conservationist carry a con- zones,” the global spread of aquatic cern for wildlife, wild lands, habitat invasive species, intensified coast- quality, and sustainable extraction line development, the widespread as part of the collective ethic, their degradation of coral reefs, mangrove sense of right and wrong. It is high swamps, estuaries, and other sensi- time to take these kinds of ideas tive marine communities. below high tide, and a sea ethic is The conservation of marine bio- the perfect vessel in which to begin diversity and the need for an “ocean the voyage.” The vastness, complex- ethic” now appear to be gaining the ity, and mystery of the oceans have attention they have long required. allowed us to postpone that project. New organizations have formed to The longer we delay, the more dif- raise awareness of marine conser- ficult the voyage will be. vation issues. Conservation biol- ogy has entered the marine realm, The land ethic will need to confront directly the chal- lenges posed by human population growth and con- tribute to the shaping of a parallel consumption ethic. How can the land ethic help to ad- dress the pressures arising from hu- man population growth responsibly, respectfully, and effectively? Will we recognize and act upon the con- nection between ecosystem health and resource consumption? These have always been among he most politically and economically vexing issues in conservation. They are the eight-hundred-pound gorillas whose presence we would just as soon not acknowledge. But with human population now over six billion, the interrelated trends of continued population growth and intensified resource consumption cannot be avoided. For decades— indeed, since Thomas

6 Wyoming Wildlife Malthusʼs day— warring ideological consumption,” were we to achieve it, Schumacher to Herman Daly. That camps have debated the relation- would defy the assumptions of both line took a new turn beginning in the ship between population growth, modern hyperconsumer culture and 1980s. Economists operating under economic development, and envi- of that brand of the banners of ecological economics ronmental degradation. Because the that prefers to avert its eyes from and sustainable development began issue involves fundamental assump- the impacts of personal consumer to challenge economic orthodoxy. tions of economic philosophy and choices. Although they have not yet con- cuts so very close to the political vinced their disciplinary colleagues bone, the moments of consensus of the need to see the human econo- have been rare and elusive. The The land ethic will need to my as a “wholly owned subsidiary” rapid growth and movement of the help reform the traditional of the global ecosystem, they have human population over the last economic worldview to in- forced the boundaries of the conver- century has no precedent in human clude conservation concerns sation outward. They have explored history, and our inherited ethical in a meaningful way. new ways to value nature, redefine systems provide too little guidance Can the land ethic have deep capital, and build conservation- in response. and meaningful impact on the hu- based economies. Many a battle yet If the land ethic has any special man economic enterprise? This is to come will be framed reflexively contribution to make, it may be to the 750-pound gorilla. For all the according to shopworn jobs-versus- draw attention to the land itself; to discussion of sustainability in recent =the-environment myths. But con- steer the discussion away from raw decades, conservation has had a hard servationists are gaining new tools ideology and toward careful consid- time gaining a full hearing within with which they can not just wage eration of the quality of life, human the dominant schools of neoclas- the battle, but dispel the myth. and otherwise, over the long run. If sical economics. Especially with The land ethic will need to en- there is to be any consensus, it will rapid globalization and technological gage, and find acceptance within, have to grow out of the realization change driving economic develop- diverse disciplines, vocations, that population and consumption ment, conservation receives scant at- and professions. How can serious are necessarily connected: Environ- tention in the salons of high finance consideration of the land ethic be mental change is a function of both and international trade. encourage beyond its core devotees our numbers and our ways of life. Is there room, in the long run, for in the natural sciences, environmen- Neither factor in the equation can true reconciliation of economic and tal and conservation groups, and be ignored. At present, we tend to ecological worldviews? Is there any resource management professions? ignore both. safe way out of our current addiction An effective land ethic will require In the 1920s, Aldo Leopold to the quarterly earnings report to a commitment from a wide spetrum pointed out the need for honesty in sincere commitment to the seventh of fields and occupations. Archi- addressing consumption patterns generation? Leopold worded his own tects, designers, engineers, planners, and choices. He wrote, “A pub- views with extreme care: “We abuse artists, builders, bankers, clergy, lic which lives in wooden houses land because we regard it as a com- teachers, doctors, farmers, manufac- should be careful about throwing modity belonging to us. When we turers, business owners: all have an stones at lumbermen, even waste- see land as a community to which impact on land and the way people ful ones, until it has learned how its we belong, we may begin to use it regard land. All may benefit from the own arbitrary demands as to kinds with love and respect.” Leopold thus innovative thinking that arises when and qualities of lumber help cause held out the possibility of loving and land is regarded as more than just the waste which it decries. . . . The respectful use. But he took no com- raw material or scenery. long and the short of the matter is fort in the early expressions of the In one of his lesser-known classic that forest conservation depends post-World War II economic boom. articles, “The Role of Wildlife in a in part on intelligent consumption, He saw a society “so obsessed with Liberal Education” (1942), Leopold as well as intelligent production of its own economic health as to have included a simple graphic of food lumber.” His point extended beyond lost the capacity to remain healthy.” chains to illustrate the “lines of just forestry and wood products: He did not live long enough to see dependency . . . in an ordinary com- Conservation and consumption the obsession become the norm. munity” of Wisconsin. One chain ex- were, and are, connected. As forester In framing the land ethic, Leopold tended, rather conventionally, from Doug MacCreery has framed it, a joined a long line of economic dis- rock to soil to ragweed, to mouse to land ethic that ignores those con- senters in the conservation tradition, fox. Another, however, linked rock nections amounts to “half a loaf.” stretching from George Perkins to soil to alfalfa to cow to farmer We need the whole loaf. “Intelligent Marsh to Henry George to E.F. . . . to grocer . . . to lawyer . . . to

January 2007 7 student; another branched off, going and in society, encourage curiosity from cow to farmer . . . to implement and critical judgment among stu- maker . . . to mechanic . . . to union dents? In “The Land Ethic,” Leopold secretary. Leopoldʼs point was that noted the dilemma educators face. to think of “wild community [as] “Despite nearly a century of pro- one thing, the human community paganda,” he noted, “progress [in another” was erroneous. conservation] still consists largely When human communities are of letterhead pieties and conven- reconceived along such lines, all tion oratory.” He agreed tat more members have a role— and an inter- education was needed. “No one will est— in formulating a land ethic. debate this, but is it certain that only And new connections are made. the volume of education needs step- It becomes possible, for example, ping up? Is something lacking in the to think of ecologically informed content as well?” design, sustainable architecture, and Propaganda was not to be con- the “green infrastructure” of cities. fused with education. The quality of It becomes important to think of the conservation education depended, in relationships between individual and part, on a positive understanding of public health, the environment, and land as a dynamic community, which biodiversity. It becomes prudent to in turn depended on “an under- plan and account for true costs, with standing of ecology.” But, Leopold the ecosystem in mind. It becomes lamented, “this is by no means co- exciting to teach, and learn, across extensive with ʻeducationʼ; in fact, disciplines. The land ethic becomes much education seems deliberately not just a rationale for protecting to avoid ecological concepts. An nature, but a means of enriching understanding of ecology does not community life. necessarily originate in course bear- ing ecological labels; it is quite as likely to geography, botany, agron- The land ethic will need to omy, history, or economics.” At the promote awareness and criti- heart of the matter: Modern educa- cal thinking among young tion divides the world into subjects, people. disciplines, and fields, while effec- How can the land ethic, in the tive conservation education requires face of rapid changes in education an appreciation of relationships. We need, in David Orrʼs words, to “con- nect thought, words, and deeds with our obligations as citizens of the land community.” Environmental education had made great strides over the last quar- ter century. Has the effort succeeded merely in exposing students to “cor- rect” attitudes, or has it given them the tools to think, feel, and act with clarity and independence? It is a tough but necessary question to ask. For the land ethic to endure, students (of all ages) will need to be emotion- ally and intellectually engages in the world around them. In a world where distractions reign, they will need to acquire the wisdom of their places: the rocks and weathers, soils and wa- ters, plants and animals, origins and

8 Wyoming Wildlife histories, people and cultures. And it to expand. But it will be no small managers, policy makers, advocates, will need to be more than a chore; it challenge for these organizations to and business leaders are trained, has to be an unending adventure. stay on course, sustain themselves, regardless of location. But it has also resist provincialisim, and incor- inspired local conservation efforts in porate solid science in their work. communities worldwide. The land ethic will need to The community-based conservation Still ,the land ethic as conceived provide encouragement and movement is one of he most helpful by Americans cannot be simply guidance for expanded com- recent indicators that the land ethic “transferred.” Ethics cannot be ex- munity-based conservation is alive and well and dispersing into ported, only evoked. Even within the projects. new fields. In the decades to come, United States, the land ethic contin- How can the land ethic more the health of that movement will be ues to evolve in varied ecological, effectively encourage local responsi- a gauge of our overall societal com- cultural, and historical contexts. It bility for land and stimulate coopera- mitment to the land. sets high goals in Leopoldʼs lan- tive measures to protect, restore, and guage, safeguarding “the capacity sustain land health? “A land ethic,” of the land for self-renewal” and Leopold wrote, “reflects the exis- The land ethic will need protecting “the integrity, stability, tence of an ecological conscience, to build upon its roots in the and beauty of the biotic commu- and this in turn reflects a convic- American experience while nity”— but no one prescribed path. tion of individual responsibility for remaining adaptable in other To thrive, the land ethic will need to the health of the land.” As Leopold settings. tell the stories, sing the songs, and recognized, individuals can at upon How can the land ethic continue dance the dances of people in their that conviction in various ways: to grow as it was, and is, the prod- own home places. as landowners, consumers, voters, uct of a specific time and place? students, parents, employees. Com- The land ethic, as Leopold framed These needs (and no doubt others) munity-based conservation provides it, emerged in response to particu- will shape the land ethic in unpre- one more avenue through which lar landscapes, cultural traditions, dictable ways in the century ahead. individuals may act: as neighbors and historical circumstances. It is Other realities will surely influence sharing a place. an achievement to be proud of, and our land ethic conversations. To The has defended with vigor. Just as the name a few: climate change, contin- seen an explosion of innovation and American people have struggled, so ued international tensions and cul- energy at the local level, at home, painfully, to free themselves from tural conflicts, the transition beyond and around the world. Nongovern- the original sin of slavery, so have oil-based economies, global patterns mental, community-based organiza- we at least begun to emancipate of trade and development, and popu- tions— conservancies, watershed ourselves from what Donald Worster lation growth and migration. But as groups, land trusts, neighborhood has described as out “fanatical drive members of the “thinking commu- associations, and a wild array of al- against the earth.” Much damage, nity,” and citizens in a democracy liances, co-ops, partnerships, coali- to be sure, has been done— to the that itself faces crucial challenges, tions, projects, and councils— have American land and to ourselves in we are obliged to continue “wiring” transformed the social landscape of the process. We have much to do to the land ethic, not only in words but conservation. While there are older redeem past losses and to prevent on the land. That process has a long precedents to these efforts, the rise new wounds. But in the last century, history on this continent and around of community-based conservation is we have also created a national ethic the world. It began long before Aldo a new and potentially powerful force to provide guidance along the way. Leopold wrote his “tentative sum- for change on the land and in civil Meanwhile, the land ethic has mary.” It will continue as long as society. It does not replace either outgrown its American origins. It we care about people, land, and the individual or governmental action; has done so in different ways. Over connections between them. it supplements them, providing new the last half century, especially, the This essay is part of Curt Meineʼs book, opportunities to reclaim common land ethic has contributed to the Correction Lines, published by Island ground and enhance the public inter- emergence of a global environmental Press, Washington, D.C. It appears here by est. ethic (through, for example, the de- permission of the author. Correction Lines The magnitude of our conserva- cade-long international effort to draft is available from Island Press, 11030 South tion needs, and the limits of both the Earth Charter). It has crossed Langley Avenue, Chicago, IL 60628. (800) 621-2736. Meine is also the author of the individual and governmental action borders to influence the conserva- definitive biography of Aldo Leopold, Aldo in meeting them, are such that com- tion policies of other nations. It has Leopold: His Life and Work, available from munity-based projects must continue changed the way scientists, resource University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, WI.

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