"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.