A native Iowan with a master of forestry from Yale, Leopold worked for the U.S.
Forest Service for nineteen years. After retiring he moved to Madison,
Wisconsin, where he was appointed Professor of Land Management at the University
of Wisconsin. In
A Sand County Almanac (1949) Leopold looks at the ecological basis of
people and the land, drawing on his experiences with his family on a sand farm
in Wisconsin.
Sites about Aldo Leopold:
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The Aldo Leopold Foundation Web site includes a biography of Leopold and
pictures of “the Shack” that inspired A Sand County Almanac.
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Bigeastern.com is a Web site devoted to environmental issues in northern Indiana
and the Midwest. The site includes a number of links to source material about
Leopold, including biographies, book reviews, and excerpts of his works.
One of Leopold’s arguments is that the “true modern” has been separated from the
land and “has no vital relation to it.” Consider your own relationship to the
land. Institute your own individual land ethic for a week, considering your
actions toward the land “in terms of what is ethically and esthetically right”
(Regular, p. 712; Shorter, p. 425). Keep a journal of your weeklong experience
in a Web log, or “blog” (see
http://www.blogger.com/), and share it with your classmates.
Read through excerpts of Leopold’s writings about specific environmental issues
at
http://gargravarr.cc.utexas.edu/chrisj/leopold-quotes.html#silphium and
compare the ways in which he builds a case for thinking about the land as
ecologies in which our actions have critical consequences.
Leopold was an active advocate for conservation in a number of areas. Look
through some of the following links and choose one environmentally-related topic
that is still relevant today. Consider this topic in ecological terms and write
about how this issue has changed for better or for worse since Leopold’s day.
http://www.naturenet.com/alnc/leoplinks.html
http://www.bigeastern.com/eotp/ep_aldol.htm
http://www.abqjournal.com/2000/nm/who/10who09-19-99.htm
Based on a comparison of their essays, how do you think Leopold’s approach to
conservation differs from John Muir’s approach? To whom (or to what) are they
each appealing in their writing, and which approach do you believe is more
effective?