Predicting the Future

By
Michael Bemis
Biol-1120-400

Reading A Sand Country Almanac, written by Aldo Leopold is an

interesting experience.
The author begins the essays with a yearlong description of the wildlife and
their happenings
around his farm in Wisconsin. Although its not really much of a farm and
more of a place of
solitude and reflection. Aldo Leopold is an avid bird watcher although he
never comes out and
says it. I must say I was startled to learn that he was also an avid bird
hunter, and not just an
observer. His thoughts are clear and concise, yet confused because he
openly admits to how
much he does not know. His deep insights into the local history of the area
are also very well
thought out and descriptive.

The second essay describes the author living and traveling to other parts of
the region and his
observations there. This work seems to be the one in which the Leopold
notices that
maybe things arent as great as they seem to be with the advancement of
civilization. He
speaks of how being the first one to top out a mountain was an
achievement that one could
be proud of, but then comes the modern man with his airplanes and all of
the sudden it seems
like that doesnt matter anymore. My favorite phrase from this work was
Man always kills the
things he loves, so we the pioneers have killed our wilderness. (Page 157) I
found this point to
be particularly important because several of the areas that I grew up
exploring have been sold,
modernized, and are no longer the retreats they once were.

The third essay talks some of the history of conservation, but also about the
current time
periods near complete lack thereof. The argument of the wolf extermination
program is
startling accurate considering it was still an argument at the time the work
was written. He
also argues for a need to teach the land organism to the next generation and
why it went away
at all. Somewhere along the timeline of teaching laboratory biology became
regarded as more
important than field sciences.
with appreciation and

Instead of being taught to see his native

intelligence, he is taught to carve cats. (Page 208)

The last article is a summary and a call to arms for us to do something about
the
dwindling natural environment. Aldo speaks of the need to keep land for
recreational use, but
also for scientific use. He suggests that we should all see the natural land
as our duty, as a
community to upkeep and not destroy for the sake of profit.

When comparing Aldo Leopolds philosophy concerning conservation to

my own I feel as
if Im in complete agreement. I may not speak as eloquently, nor express my
thoughts as well
as he does but I find it hard for anyone who has ever been in the wilderness
to not want to
keep it exactly as it is. I started to see this in an area that most people who
live in the Salt Lake
Valley wouldnt even think about. When I returned from the Army several
years ago, I

found myself being dragged along to go shooting or hunting with friends. We

would go to
Stansbury Island which is BLM land but has been destroyed by years of
people dumping
garbage, driving off trail, and pretty much causing as much havoc as they
could for no other
reason than because they could. After years of going there I discovered the
Cedar Mountain
Range. A protected, walk in access area only and my entire view of the west
desert changed.
This was a place of beauty, untouched and undisturbed. This was a place I
could understand
on the most basic of levels.

If our role is that of citizens and not conquerors, we can begin to

respect what nature
has given us. Rather than hungrily eye unused land with dollar signs in our
mind we can
appreciate it for what it is, a natural place of beauty. This is a very
interesting thought, and one
that I well support but in the modern era we belong to I fear we are
beginning to stray from
that ever being a possibility again. Everything has become a culture of
bigger, better, faster,
and done with less work. We have mega farms with machines that cultivate
the land, without
any more than being programed with a set of gps coordinates. Weve taken
so much, for so
long without thinking of what actually could come from destroying the
wilderness that its likely
well end up with only a few spots remaining untouched in the next one
hundred years.

If we as a community could begin to see the land as a privileged use,

and not an
obligation we may well see a change. As it stands I fear that we arent doing
much better than
Aldos generation did at conserving our land. We argue about it, place small
areas off limits to
motor vehicle traffic, but in reality we do very little to check ourselves. I find
myself in hike in
areas fairly regularly and it is very common to find discarded garbage that is
not generations
old, but perhaps months old. With the modern flat screened television, we
as a people had to
discard the older bulkier styled ones. As a result of this, I find these things
everywhere. Ive
found them on mountaintops, in the middle of huge empty fields with
nothing around for miles,
Ive even found them at lakes. The ideology of its just one tv, whats the
big deal? is a
perfect example of how little we see our own obligation to be a care taker on
an individual
basis.

Extending the land ethic to all members of the community, including

myself would
probably require a career change. Oddly, thats what Im trying to
accomplish by going back to
school but Ive never considered doing it for ethics but for personal reasons.
My current career
has been to drive a commercial truck for the last several years. This is an
important part of the
economy, but its fairly horrid for our environment. I use thousands of
gallons of fuel a year,

leave a huge carbon footprint, and the roads I drive arent exactly friendly to
the natural area
they destroyed to be built.

A biotic community should supersede the individual members of the

society. Integrity
of the community is far more important than the one individual. I think as
humans we know
this, and agree with this yet dont ever take into consideration that our
community is much
larger than ourselves. We have a history of sayings such as its for the
better good but I feel
as if weve left nature completely out of the picture. We are only a cog in the
wheel that is
nature, not all encompassing as wed like to think. Perhaps its time we took
a hard look at
ourselves as a species and think, is doing this today going to kill us off
indirectly tomorrow?

What motivates me to care about the current and future condition of

our land? Beauty
is important, but it is our duty to care for and pass on this wonderful land. I
spoke earlier of
finding garbage in the wild and I pick it up if feasible. Im not packing a 32inch television
fifteen miles back to the car, how did it even get up here? Ive taken part in
some cleanup
efforts at certain shooting areas but each time Ive returned, its full of trash
again. Some
people cant see the results of their actions. These seem to be the people
who go into the

wilderness once a year and dont have expectations of it. I expect it to be

beautiful, and full of
wonder and I feel its my duty to try and clean up the messes of those made
before me. This
should be how everyone feels but thats just not the way it is. If I had never
experienced the
High Uintas with my Grandfather, I wouldnt know the shame of finding a
soda can alongside
the river and the desire to clean it up.

My own land ethic has changed little over the years. I was taught at a
young age to
appreciate nature and to try to leave it alone. That doesnt mean dont ever
experience it, it
means leaving as small of a footprint as possible. Im sadden to see the
growth of our
community because Ive seen firsthand the valleys disappear with the
growth of the I-15
corridor and I hate it. More people, more concrete, more pollution, and less
snow every year.
I have to venture further and further into the wilderness to be left alone and
even then, Im
finding traces that my private sanctuaries have been molested by someone
who refuses to
believe that they are leaving a scar on the land that will take decades to
repair. This may sound
like a very selfish form of self interest and I wont dispute it, but I want my
boys to have the
opportunities Ive had while growing up. To hike majestic mountains above
the tree lines, to
come over a ridge in the desert and peer down onto a herd of sunbathing
antelope, and to
be able to sit somewhere having a packed lunch listening to nothing.

The Land Ethic was a unique read for me. I enjoyed it, but also had a
very difficult time
reading it. Aldo Leopolds method of writing is very indicative of the time.
Slower, more
thought out, and carefully worded. What that meant for me was I had to
read slower, and
reread several verses to understand their meanings.

This was an eloquent piece, but it was also an interesting piece of literature
because it was very
accurately predictive of the future. Our current timeline is nearly exactly in
line with what was
written in this book. We still havent found ourselves as part of a larger
system and we still
continue to destroy what we love. There have been some changes for the
positive yet not
nearly enough. I wonder in a quarter century if my children will read this
same work and feel
the same way. I hope not, for eventually there has to be a breaking point
where humanity
overreaches itself and takes more from nature than can be replenished. If I
had to describe
the way I felt after finishing this book I would say I felt a degree of anger, but
also of shame for
the species. Why havent we figured this out yet? This was written long
before I was born and
for the most part it still stands true. If anything, our situation has actually
gotten worse.

Weve created national parks, and reserves but weve also grown so large
that we cant sustain

ourselves naturally. We feed animals steroids to make them grow larger,

and quicker because
we need the harvest. We genetically engineer plants so they produce faster,
even though
theyre not giving us the vital nutrients that could easily be harvested from
nature. Weve
come up with newer better ways to bring oil out of the ground because of
the enormous
taste weve developed for it with zero regard to the surrounding areas. After
reading this book
I feel like were slowly backing ourselves into an evolutionary corner that we
as a species
seriously do not want to be in.