Aldo Leopold - Lack of Ethics for Nature - Colloquium Post 5

Aldo Leopold is famous for his writing of “A Sand Country Almanac” and makes many valid points for the argument that we have a lack of ethics when it comes to nature.  He views humanity as aggressors that abuse and exert destructive dominance onto the land, plants, and animals of the earth.  Personally I found Leopold’s writing a little dry and I had some issues keeping my attention on the text.  Also “A Sand Country Almanac” is a little outdated, giving no recent references to his arguments.  Some of his choice in language and referring to the “the great dust bowl” as recent or current history dated Leopold.  Leopold’s writing also emphasized greatly on the farmers and their practices being damaging to the natural environment which seems to be only a small part of today’s environmental issues.  Of course, Leopold couldn’t have been aware of the “whole picture” in the forties with the limited information that he had.  Even though the writing seems to be outdated, Leopold’s perspectives are not.  Many of his views were actually ahead of his time, or you could even say from before his time.  The philosophy of having respect for the earth and becoming at peace with nature by giving respect and love to the world around us was a very ancient belief that our ancestors possessed. Although the modern industrialized machine has no use for such reflection, many people and theories of today finding truth in the ancient wisdom.  Leopold had great insight into the nature of man and his ethic standing within the natural world.  His words are to be pondered and his warnings to be taken seriously.