[agricola laboriosus]

“What was the meaning of this so steady and self respecting, this small Herculean labor, I knew not. I came to love my rows,my beans, through so many more I wanted. They attached me to the earth, and so I got strength like Anteus”, opens the Bean Field, with Thoreau overlooking the fruits(vegetables) of his loving labor (Thoreau 146). The act of farming becomes a central defining characteristic to Thoreau’s experience at Walden. Transforming the land from wild to a fruitful, cultivated plot is a process that also transforms the laborer. Thoreau’s work in his fields became a meditative process of furthered intimacy and observation with his surroundings, he describes in poetic his environment, “When I pause to lean on my hoe , these sounds and sights I heard and saw any where in the row, a part of the inexhaustable entertainment which the country offers” (Thoreau 150). Renegade farming he did well and as a retort to bypassers gossip Thoreau poses the question, “And, by the way, who estimates the value of the crop which Nature yields in the still wilder fields unimproved by man? (Thoreau 149).

In the chapter Baker Farm, Thoreau happens upon an Irish immigrant family while taking shelter from a downpour in their home he thought abandoned. The patriarch John Field, bound by a vicious cycle of as Thoreau describes, “When he had worked hard he had to eat hard again to repair the waste of the system..indeed it was broader than it was long,for he discontented and wasted his life into the bargain” (Thoureau 193). Field worked another man’s land to pay for luxury goods (meat,butter,coffee,tea,milk) for himself and his family, this leading to exhaustion and impoverishment. Thoreau, urges Field to cultivate his land and live simply as he himself does. All of the Field’s disparities are associated with their dependence on luxury items(as we can with most of the current world issues), and coupled with the family’s arithmetic-polluted though process.. the cycle continues and their own land provides them no sustenance.

Comparing the sowing of seeds to that of the truest values of men, Thoreau asks which is most important to our human legacy and imagines a man “paritally risen out of the earth,something more than erect, like swallows alighted and walking on the ground” (Leopold 156). This was a critque on the modern farmer, who defiled the land by understanding it only as an economic commodity. I interpet this as Thoreau correlating the value of a man with the way he values the land he works.

"Who would want to live in a world which is just not quite fatal?"-Paul Shepard

The most significant addition of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring to environmental ethics is making the scientific and ecologic connection between bodies and the landscape. This text is truly the paver for the environmental movement of the 1970’s. Carson calls to attention the connection between man’s intervention in the landscape via a chemical medium and how through the cyclic food chain, these toxic chemicals bioaccumulated all the way up from plankton to fisherman.  As articulated by Carson in the opening of The Human Price, “Today we are concerned with a different hazard that lurks in our environment-a hazard we ourselves have introduced into our world as our modern way of life has evolved.” (Carson 188). 

http://www.google.com/imgres?qoom=1&iact=rc&dur=296&page=1&tbnh=167&tbnw=136&start=0&ndsp=26&ved=1t:429,r:6,s:0&tx=120&ty=23

Carson explains the chemical nature and health affects of several chlorinated hydrocarbons and organic phosphorous insecticides, but focuses most on her research of DDT. DDT was initially used in a powder formula to combat lice in the military and first became available for commercial and residential use in 1945 (Carson 20). A chlorinated hydrocarbon, the most alarming attribute of DDT is its storage in the fatty-rich organs in the human and animal body, this leads to the body magnifying the amount stored in these areas particularly the thyroid,testes,adrenal glands,liver and kidneys. (Carson 21). Because of the storage capacity DDT can be easily bioaccumulated via consumers, and if stored in a pregnant female she will pass it along to her offspring (Carson 23). One of the many apocalyptic stories of applied chemicals devastating entire ecological communities that Carson includes in Silent Spring is Clear Lake in Northern California, which received three DDD(similar to DDT but thought to be less harmful to aquatic life) applications from 1948-1959. People began to take notice when the western grebes started to die, as a fish eating bird the grebe was consuming the fish, would had consumed smaller fish who had consumed the plankton. The plankton contained 5 points per million of DDD, “It was a house-that-Jack-built-sequence, in which the large carnivores had eaten the smaller carnivores, that had eaten the herbivores, that had eaten the plankton, that had absorbed the poison from the water...Here the problem was resolved in favor of those annoyed by gnats, at the expense of an unstated, and probably not even clearly understood, risk to all who took food or water from the lake” (Carson 48-50).

All of the examples Carson provides lead to severe ecological destruction resulting from man wanting to remove one species of a bothersome insect. After relaying the horrific experiments on wildlife by Illinois scientists, Carson questions the the civility of the involved parties, “The question is whether any civilization can wage relentless war on life without destroying itself, and without losing the right to be called civilized” (Carson 99).

Little needs to be said to introduce the affects of these chemicals on the human body. Ingestion of milk from a cow who’s feed was treated with DDT, homeowners’ dousing their lawns with dieldrin,accidental contamination..nothing was safe from the poison we were using on ourselves. According to medical evidence, “samples of body fat collected from the general population between 1954 and 1956 averaged 5.3 to 7.4 parts per million of DDT” (Carson 178). The government had miserably failed at any attempts to protect the American public from a toxic body. The FDA had developed a system that was inadequate in monitoring the amount of pesticide used on consumer products due to in-state regulations, minuscule staff and an entirely warped system of insecticide tolerance (Carson 181).

This was the dawn of the age of “environmental disease” and Carson was urging the government, the chemical industries and the public to realize that the price for introducing these chemicals into the environment with a vehemence was the decline of ecological and human health. As with the earthworms,the robins, the fish; the human body also accumulated an incredible amount of chemicals leading to sudden symptoms or a mysterious cancer many years after exposure.. “DDT, Carson explains, appears an an agent potentially capable of blocking the whole process of energy production and depriving the cells of utilizable oxygen” the consequences which follow: cancer cells,organs and tissues cannot grow properly,disrupted reproduction resulting in birth defects..to name a few (Carson 204). Our synthetic chemical input returned as a deadly output, essentially killing all life at a cellular level. There is no longer a boundary between sick landscape and sick body, each were suffering form the same disease.

(however) there are other options-biological control that is via other insects,bacteria,fungi..reverting to a landscape with more niches=balanced pest population
but..to remind us what is at hand

keep educated! and know where your food and water come from!

"Who Wrote The Rules For Progress?"

“There is much confusion between land and country. Land is a place where corn,gullies,and mortgages grow. Country is the personality of the land, the collective harmony of its soil, life, and weather. Country may be rich despite a conspicuous poverty of physical endowment, and its quality may not be apparent at first glance,nor at all times” (Leopold 177).

Land Ethic


“In short, a land ethic changes the role of Homo sapiens from the conqueror of the land-community to plain member and citizen of it. It implies respect for his fellow members, and also respect for the community as such”, Leopold states in the opening of the Upshot as he delves into history of his “land ethic” (Leopold 240). Within this construction, biota is viewed as community, land as singular organism, silmoultaneously in competetion and co-operation with one another, "his instincts prompt him to compete for his place in the community, but his ethics prompt him to cooperate" (Leopold 239). On this basis of communal existence Leopold grounds man's responsibility in land conservation: it is our duty to recognize the system of "cogs and wheels" and how our action/and non-action has serious ramifications to the whole ecological realm.

He also warns of human intervention in the environment,"It’s parts, like our parts, compete with each other and co-operate with each other. The competitions are as much a part of the inner workings as the co-operations. You can regulate them-cautiously-but not abolish them.” (Leopold 190).

Cheat Grass

With each introduction of invasive specie, extinction of an apex predator, paved road, oil spill, a cog in the system is disrupted and the system must retrofit itself and with each change the system becomes weaker (Leopold 242). Leopold tells the poignant story of cheat grass, an invasive perrenial that filled in the bare,overgazed ground of the West. Cheat chokes out the native grasses which then leads to less winter forage for the deer and other animals (Leopold 167). The hardwood seedlings are easily overpowered by the powerful grass,and as the perfect kindle, cheat feeds many wildfires. Leopold’s words on the country’s attitude towards the invasion echoes the present attitude on many invasives, “There is, as yet, no sense of pride in the husbandry of wild plants and animals, sense of shame in the propietorship of a sick landscape” (Leopold 168).

http://www2.nau.edu/~plants-c/forage/chea.shtml

[Farming will kill/save us]

"To sum up: We asked a farmer to do what he conveniently could to save his soil, and he has done just that. The farmer who clears the woods off a 75% slope, turns his cows into the clearing, and dumps its rainfall,rocks,ad soil into the community creek, is still a respected member of society...Obligations have no meaning without conscience, and the problem we face is the extension of the social conscience from people to land" (Leopold 245-246).

Current farming practices need no introduction..monoculture,intensive chemical inputs,large scale irrigation draining the water table, animal cruelty, food borne illness..etc etc etc. Even in the the mid 20th century, there was a cause for alarm of these "clean farming" practices as Leopold refers to it. "Clean farming means a food chain aimed solely at economic profit and purged of all non-conforming links" (Leopold 199).

Sustainable, organic farming is a response to "clean farming". It is a practice deeply rooted in a social and ecological conscience. Permaculture, bio dynamics, ect. can all be derived from the land ethic and as the movement grows from cityfarm to countryfarm and as people develop a true love for "the land" we perhaps can help remediate our pillaged landscape.

Natural Cycles

Within the first section of a Sandy County Almanac, Leopolds direct observations and experiences within the landscapes of his Wisconsin farm are focused on specific natural cycles and native species that have and have not been preserved throughout the historical technological progress of mankind. The midwest seasons, the migration and mating patterns of the diverse avian community, weather patterns and development on a delicate prairie ecosystem are all intricately woven into his calendar year of study and analysis. The “nature” is not untouched but viewed in an important historical context(before/after man) and is recognized as resilient but also fragile when compared to encroaching development.

Some examples..

He mourns the Silphium prairie flower, citing its decline to highway construction but also the educated public, still ignorant of the interconnected ecological web.

“Mechanized man, oblivious of floras, is proud of his progress in cleaning up the landscape on which, willy nilly, he must live out his days. It might be wise to prohibit at once all teaching of real botany and real history, lest some future suffer qualms about the floristic price of his good life.” (pg 50)

“We grieve only for what we know. The erasure of Silphium from western Dane Country in so cause for grief if one knows it only as a name in a botany book.” (pg 52)

Through his candid notes, Leopold makes a subtle distinction in the way his careful attention to his surroundings make his experience in nature different then his peers. During hunting season, Leopold follows the red, sunlit blackberry leaves to find locate the partridge, “Every woodcock and every partridge has his private solarium under these briars. Most hunters not knowing this, wear themselves put in the scrub, and, returning home birdless, leave the rest of us in peace.” (pg 67)

Whether this is attributed to Leopold’s background in ecology or his thoughtful manner I am unsure, but what I extract from this comparison is that one cannot be a successful sportsman,scientist or conservationist without making keen, quiet observations about the immediate environment you are surrounded by.

"Time to see who has done what but speculate why"

Pt. 1 A Sandy County Almanac Notes

Quick Forward: Aldo Leopold was the first well recognized voice of conservation and “wild life ecology” in the United States. His way of perceiving land as an intricate living community can be derived from his childhood on the Iowa plains, his academic and professional background in forestry and genuine love of science. He was appointed the Department of Game Management at the University of Wisconsin in 1933. His farm in Central Wisconsin is the setting for A Sandy County Almanac which was published posthumously in 1949.
Sources: http://www.naturenet.com/alnc/aldo.html, http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/pubs/other/aldoonag.htm


This first part of Leopold’s book spans a chronological year on the family farm in Wisconsin, where he sought to seek out the “meat from God” (Foreword). Starting at the first of the year, he paints a detailed picture of the landscape and animals with his careful naturalist observations. In February, he delves into the history of a dead oak tree,where his ecological and historical knowledge shine in his story telling. He compares the tree’s history with that of mankind and it becomes quite apparent who is most resilient.

The spring months consist of beautifully written field notes, mainly focusing on the birds on Leopold’s land. Noting the geese’s annual pattern Leopold waxes a bit of poetic in March, “In this annual barter of food and light and winter warmth for summer solitude, the whole continent receives as net profit a wild poem dropped from the murky skies of March” (Leopold 25). Compared to Walden, there is a recognizable light heartedness and wit in Leopold’s writings and can be identified in the beginning of the April chapter. He revels in the wildlife’s response to the spring flood, and enjoys the solitude when he cannot cross the water into town. He is a humble scientist as he observes the mating dance of the woodcock and comments that , “No matter how intently one studies the hundred little dramas of the woods and meadows, one can never learn all of the salient facts about any one of them” (Leopold 35).

Throughout this section, perspective is an important theme. Human perspective compared to that of an animal is often seen as trivial. The migration of the plover to the daily journey of home to work to school, seems quite insignificant.

In June, Leopold fishes at Alder Ford and I found similarities between his experience and Thoreau fishing on Walden. The act of fishing seems deeply reflective and mediative to both, but Leopold maintains more of narrative in his description. The most pertinent section within July is Prairie Birthday, as he greets the arrival of the hardy prairie flowers in the height of the their bloom. However, he calls to attention the serious decline of many native species and the direct correlation to “mechanized man”. He calls the reader to examine the question whether, “we cannot have both progress and plants” (Leopold 51).

“Providence withheld a sense of history from the thousand of species of plants and animals that have exterminated each other to build of present” (Leopold 54) --very pertinent to me as I spent the month of July conducting an invasive species survey of the Lake Michigan shoreline.

Leopold paints the most lovely river pictures in August, and looks forward to the ever changing patterns of the water. As fall arrives, the tone of the book becomes more contemplative. I n the very early morning hours Leopold sits in the marsh and listens, delighting in what he could hear and not see. In October, he hunts with his bird dog and compared to my knowledge of conventional hunting, it seems a languid and solitary practice.

Leopold seems to welcome the winter, and uses the snow to track the home ranges of deer and grouse. “ I am curious about this, for it gives me the ratio between the size of their universe and the size of mines...who is the more thoroughly acquainted with the world in which he lives” (Leopold 83). I think we all know the answer to his question.
Leopold was a holistic naturalist and explorer with a very keen eye and like Thoreau was very in tune with the natural rhythms of their surroundings.

Heading to Isle Royale for some observations of my own, will post more upon my return