The Land Ethic: by Aldo Leopald.

I’ve studied ethics in some of my classes, both ethics toward others, and ethics in business and the community. I find it interesting when the article Land Ethics by Aldo Leopald states that “There is yet no ethic dealing with man’s relation to land and to the animals and plants that grow upon it.” I find this very true, I’ve yet to actually think of ethics toward nature itself and the preservation of it. Sustainability is often talked about, but it has to do with the use and regulation of the available resources given to us. Aldo Leopald touches an example of this saying “One basic weakness in a conversation system based wholly on economic motives is that most members of the land community have no economic value.” “When one of these non-economic categories are threatened, and if we happen to love it we invent subterfuges to give it economic importance.” To me it seems that humans are selfish in this way, only feeling a duty to save things that can give them a return. Their focus is not on the attention to what they want to save but yet in their own survival. The author sums up that a system based solely on economic self-interests is hopelessly lopsided. “It assumes falsely, that the economic parts of the biotic clock will function without the uneconomic parts.” Everything is dependent on one another to thrive in this world, and it is unjust to believe an animal or land to be unworthy of saving just because it has no value to us. While you can't see the value, the land and species that we deem unprofitable or unusable have an impact inadvertently on our survival. When it comes to preserving land we run into another problem, and that is private ownership. The government is able to regulate only so much, and landowners like to complain about all the restrictions versus actually taking the necessary steps themselves. "When the private landowner is asked to perform some unprofitable act for the good of the community, he today assents only with an outstretched palm If the act costs him cash it is fair and proper, but when it costs only fore-thought, open-mindedness or time, it is at least debatable." (Leopald,67) This hits home with the fact that if there is nothing to gain, then others won't feel obligated to do anything. Educating people and landowners about the impact of our actions and what can be done to help is an easy solution, and none is being taught. The only problem I see with trying to educate people is getting them to want to learn, and reach beyond their limitations in thinking. 

Here is a link to the Aldo Leopald Foundation where you can learn more about environmental education and values. http://www.aldoleopold.org/Programs/lep.shtml