In his conclusive work, A Sand County Almanac, Aldo Leopold does a profound examination of the natural world around him while also writing about his own personal belief about nature. His Land Ethic suggests an approach on how ethics could be implemented. A Sand County Almanac is written to a more general audience with the hope of influencing perspectives of human activity on the environment. Leopold discusses the way in which we should be viewing our interactions with the environment in a balanced and considerate manner, this paper will discuss ethics the way Leopold interprets them, the implications of human interactions and the need for society to incorporate ethics into how nature is taken care of.
On the subject of ethics, Leopold distinguishes
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It is wrong when it tends otherwise” (224-225). Ethics deal with morals, and a conscious sense of what’s right and wrong. Leopold refers to the Ten Commandments as an example of a set of moral standards that help define rights and wrongs in the context of a relationship between those in a community who hold those commandments to be ethical responsibilities. He also discusses the ethics between people and their communities, quoting the examples of the ‘Golden Rule” (treat others as you would like to be treated) and the concept of democracy as fundamentals that form societal code of conduct. The land ethic, Leopold argues, is the missing piece in what he calls the ethical sequence. In the beginning segment of his work, Leopold defines what exactly an ethic is, in both ecological terms, “A limitation on freedom of action in the struggle for existence” and philosophical terms, “A …show more content…
Leopold seemed to recognized that his dream of a commonly accepted and implemented set of morals based on caring for individuals, the land, and the similarities between them would have to “evolve, in the minds of a thinking community.” (Leopold 216) We are all part of the thinking community that needs to shape the land ethic for our generation and for those who come after. To accomplish this, communities must participate in thought provoking dialog with one another, bringing a diverse number of perspectives, backgrounds and experiences to the table of discussion. Together, a land ethic can be put in place that will be passed down to future
Although Leopold’s love of great expanses of wilderness is readily apparent, his book does not cry out in defense of particular tracts of land about to go under the axe or plow, but rather deals with the minutiae, the details, of often unnoticed plants and animals, all the little things that, in our ignorance, we have left out of our managed acreages but which must be present to add up to balanced ecosystems and a sense of quality and wholeness in the landscape.
In my generation, I am able to catch what is relatively the tail end of this slow extinction. And to be quite honest, I had not devoted a moment of thought to this phenomenon until I read Leopold’s passages. In fact, I am always the first one to compliment a new highway project that saves me five minutes of driving or even a tidy farmstead as I pass. Now, more than ever, my thoughts are in limbo. It was just last week when my dad pointed out an area off the highway that displayed miles of slowly rolling cornfields. His reaction was to the beauty of the countryside. Mine was to question his. I found myself thinking about all of the hard work that created that beauty, and then how much more beautiful it was fifty, a hundred, or even two centuries ago. Only the mind’s eye can create this beauty now, and that is exactly why Leopold’s concerns are validated.
The first question in trying to apply this ethic is, who determines how "we" would want to be treated so that it can be determined how Niagara Falls would want to be treated? Should 'the public', as Kreiger thinks, have the say in what happens to Niagara, and therefore, decide its fate? I don't think that the public is in an appropriate position to decide the fate of this, or many other, environmental entities.
THE LAND ETHIC - ALDO LEOPOLD The land ethic was published in 1949 as the finale to A Sand County Almanac, Aldo Leopold’s “Land Ethic” essay is a call for moral responsibility to the natural world. At its core, the idea of a land ethic is simply caring: about people, about land, and about strengthening the relationships between them (Leopold, n.d). The Ethical Sequence The first ethics dealt with the relation between individuals; the Mosaic Decalogue is an example.
Analyzing human obligation pertaining to all that is not man made, apart from humans, we discover an assortment of concerns, some of which have been voiced by philosophers such as Tom Regan, Peter Singer and Aldo Leopold. Environmentally ethical ideals hold a broad spectrum of perspectives that, not only attempt to identify a problem, but also focus on how that problem is addressed through determining what is right and wrong.
In order to further developments in ethics, it is essential to gain an understanding of past ethical teachings and their impressions on the study of ethical issues at present (Gordon, n.d.). Aristotle (c. 384 BCE – 322 BCE) and John Stuart Mill (c. 1806 – 1873), offer two distinct ethical systems that are applicable to contemporary environmental issues such as ecosystem destruction. This year, Brazil won the chance to hold the quadrennial Olympics in Rio de Janeiro; as a result, the city undertook a programme of intense urbanisation, which has a significant impact upon the surrounding environment. An evaluation of the ethical systems belonging to Aristotle and John Stuart Mill in regards to the development of ‘The Olympic Golf Course’ in Rio
I believe that nature and its natural resources are here for us to use, but the management of these resources should very careful and make sure that will have these resources forever. I also believe that people are not a separate part of the community. Leopold ideas sound better to me for example, we are part of the community, global issues (from his observation over the years), etc.
Leopold defends his position the advent of a new ethical development, one that deals with humans’ relations to the land and its necessity. This relationship is defined as the land ethic, this concept holds to a central component referred to as the ecological consciousness. The ecological consciousness is not a vague ideal, but one that is not recognized in modern society. It reflects a certainty of individual responsibility for the health and preservation of the land upon which we live, and all of its components. If the health of the land is upheld, its capacity of self-renewal and regeneration is maintained as well. To date, conservation has been our sole effort to understand and preserve this capacity. Leopold holds that if the mainstream embraces his ideals of a land ethic and an ecological consciousness, the beauty, stability and integrity of our world will be preserved.
Holbrook, Daniel M. "Environmental Ethics: Lecture Two." Washington State University. Internet. 18 Oct. 2000. Available: www.wsu.edu:8080/holbrodm/EELect2.html.
This paper will look at how the ethical theory of Utilitarianism applies to the problem of deforestation. I will argue that Utilitarianism is a sufficient theory when applied to the social problem of deforestation because Utilitarianism succeeds in distinguishing between different forms of pleasures that will be of most benefit for the common good, which is integral to defending the cessation of deforestation.
Though Leopold’s “Thinking Like a Mountain” was published over a half century ago, his message stands the test of time. Now, at this critical period of environmental fluctuation, humans have no decision other than to alter the way in which we interact with the Earth. The process of thinking like a mountain simply asks society to take a step back and think ecologically. By distancing ourselves from the self-centered perspective we currently operate under and adopting a social atmosphere that allows the environment to prosper free from our oppressive tendencies we ensure a habitable future for the next generations. For as Thoreau dictum states- In wilderness is the salvation of the world.
[1] Ethics is defined as “the code of moral principles and values that governs the behaviour of a person or a group with respect to what is right or wrong” (Samson and Daft, 2005, p.158)
Environmental ethics is defined as the moral relationship between humans and the natural environment (Bourdeau, 2004). According to Bourdeau (2004), it focuses on how humans behave towards other species, ecosystems and the environment as a whole. It is an area of environmental philosophy that faces a lot of conflict due to the various subdivisions in terms of ethical perceptions (Callicott, 1984). For traditional and religious views, some people believe that they were given dominion over nature’s plants and animals to serve their needs. For an example, man is said to be created in the“image of God” and given “dominion”
* Shirk, Evelyn. “New Dimensions in Ethics: Ethics and the Environment.” Ethics and the Environment. Proc. of Conf. on Ethics and the Environment, April 1985, Long Island University. Ed. Richard E. Hart. Lanham: University Press of America, 1992. 1-10.
...the concept of what should we do or what we ought to do. Ethics is design to help one receive the life they want and live it with purpose. In certain situations it’s unclear as to consider it moral or immoral as ethics comes to play alongside morality. Some would argue the concept of what can be define as moral as immoral in conjunction with ethics by means of feelings, religion, law, culture, and science. Although they prove good standings they cannot be accounted for as those rationales are more so that of opinion that are altered daily depending of that of the individual. For this reason any act can be considered moral as we can use descriptive education depicting that of ethics, in which we live a life seeking how things should be and that it depends on the individual. So who is to say what’s right and what’s wrong. If it exists in the universe it can be moral.