Carmen Westarp

Conservation Biology
Biology_1120
DISPOSING OF THE CONQUER MINDSET AND EMBRACING CITIZENSHIP WITHIN
THE LAND-COMMUNITY
Part I.
The first time I read Aldo Leopold's "The Land Ethic" was a little over a year ago for an
environmental ethics course.

I had not been prepared at all for the profound affect which it would have on me. Before
reading this piece I had never considered the depth of the interconnection between man
and the environment. While I held the belief that we must care for the environment there
were still many ethical issues which I had dismissed throughout my life and there was a
part of me which strictly viewed the environment to have value coinciding with what it
had to offer opposed to it simply having intrinsic value. Leopold's piece challenged my
perspective in regards to the relationship between environment and man.
The land ethic is a persuasive piece which argues the idea that man should not
consider themselves as conquerors of their ecosystems but rather they should view
their ecosystems as communities of which they are a part of and as members of the
community it is not only man's responsibility but rather his obligation to protect and care
for the members of it which are less able to. Leopold's passage "A thing is right when it
tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong
when it tends otherwise." best summarizes the principle of land ethics. In "The Land
Ethic" Aldo points out that land is often viewed by the vast majority of man as nothing
more than a commodity it is taken advantage of and abused.