A Land Ethic

“The usual answer to this dilemma is ‘more conservation education.’” (Leopold 63)

I believe that making progress with conservation starts and ends with education. The only way we can learn as humans is if we are taught something or are engaged in it. I never truly had a class on conservation, or even nature until I came to college. I believe that if we want to stride toward a better ecological world, then we must educate the children. Taking a conservation class or something related to that will open up children’s perspective and sense of place about the land they live on. If I was more educated on this subject at a younger age, I would have had a voice and a knowledgeable opinion about the way we should be preserving earth’s surface.
 

http://djaniwildlife.co.za/images/

 

“He has no vital relation to it; to him it is the space between cities on which crops grow.” (Leopold 75)

I cannot comply with the idea that all truly modern individuals see the world like this. To an extent, some people are uneducated about our land and how we should appreciate it. It is not right to suggest that people living in this modern era do not try to conserve nature and protect it at all costs. I believe that you can never outgrow land because it is our only life source that provides us with just about everything. All people do not conform to the ideas that machines should be processing crops and synthetic products should be replacing originals. Thinking of land as added space between the more important cities is not the dramatic perception that individuals develop.   

 

http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/photos/urban-farming/

 

“Theoretically, the mechanization of farming ought to cut the farmer’s chains, but whether it really does is debatable.” (Leopold 76)

It is hard to comprehend that a statement as strong as this is debatable. If more mechanization can help farmers be more productive, then it should not be controversial. Mechanized agriculture has decreased manual labor and reduced the use of working animals. This should cut the ties of restriction on farmers and allow them to create a place where they can farm, but at an effective rate. A friend of my family was a farmer and I believe that he would not even question the fact of feeling less confined if he were able to use mechanized farming tactics to finish his job. This statement is hard to understand the negatives or the opposing side to this lop-sided debate that machines would alleviate the restraint on farmers.   

 

http://www.fromholland.info/agricultural-machines/