The Land Ethic
In the excerpt from A Sand County Almanac: The Land Ethic, Aldo Leopold, describes how humans ethics towards lands are messed up. He writes that we are not taking care and using our resources the right way. Leopold says that we "do not love the soil that we are sending down river, the water which we use to run turbines, float barges down, and dump sewer into, the plants we kill, and the animals who are endangered or extinct" (Leopold, p.60). Humans have been granted these natural resources to help them succeed in life, but are not returning the favor. This abuse to the resources has been going on since land was settled, but not everyone has abused it. Leopold explains that the Pueblo Indians civilization expired, but from a cause that was not the land, and how regions in India are able to maintain cattle herds, without there being any grass.
I live in Martin County on the east coast of Florida, and our river and beaches are being ruined by the discharges from Lake Okeechobee. They U.S. Army Corps, is draining the lake into the St. Lucie River, which then feeds into the Intracoastal, and eventually the ocean. This lake water has produced toxic green algae blooms that are killing marine life, and damaging coastal and underwater ecosystems. Mostly everyone from my community knows that this drainage is ethically wrong. The state does not want to hear about what happens to our water. All they care about is protecting themselves. Their ethics on protecting the land is just what Leopold is describing. They use it for their own purposes, but do not return the help.
The way we want to protect our water will also help save the Everglades. We want the state to buy land south of Lake Okeechobee, from US Sugar, or Big Sugar, and send the water south. Big Sugar does not want to sell this land, as they want to keep it to grow more sugar cane, and in return make money. They do not want to restore Florida to the way it was before farming and development. The Everglades are slowly dying, and they need this water from the lake to survive, and prosper once again. "When one asks why no rules have been written, one is told that the community is not ready to support them" (Leopold, pg.64). My community has been ready for years, but every time, something gets in the way. In 2008, it was to financial crisis. Then, we had no one supporting us. Now, in 2020, we are ready to finalize the plan, to buy the land.
Leopold writes, "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. This value is something far broader than the economic value. The most serious obstacle impeding the evolution of land ethic is the fact that our educational and economic system is headed away from an intense consciousness of land" (Leopold, p.75). He means that we need to have a drive to protect the land we were given, as it will be the only chance we have to save it. This drive is out of love, respect, and admiration for our environment.
Works Cited
Leopold, A.
(2011). Excerpt from A Sand County Almanac: The Land Ethic. In University
Colloquium: A Sustainable Future (pp.58-77). Acton, MA: XanEdu Publishing
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