“It is inconceivable to me that an ethical relation to land can exist without love, respect, and admiration for land and a high regard for its value. By value, I of course mean something far broader than mere economic value. I mean value in the philosophical sense. Perhaps the most serious obstacle impeding the evolution of a land ethic is the fact that our education and economic system is headed away from rather than toward an intense consciousness of land. Your true modern is separated from the land by many middlemen and by innumerable physical gadgets. He has no vital relation to it. To him, it is the space between cities on which crops grow. Turn him loose for a day on the land and if the spot does not happen to be a golf links or a scenic area he is bored stiff. If crops could be raised by hydroponics instead of farming, it would suit him very well. Synthetic substitutes for wood, leather, wool, and other natural land products suit him better than the originals. In short, land is something he has outgrown.”
Published in 1949, A Sand County Almanac is a conservation classic, which I discovered when it was referenced in Coyote America by Dan Flores. Not sure how I missed this before. Leopold’s philosophies are still relevant and the observations he makes about his land throughout the year are just delightful. They speak soulfully to the amateur naturalist in me. What a great listen.
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