Curt Meine is a senior fellow with the Aldo Leopold Foundation , adjunct assistant professor of forest and wildlife ecology, and author of Aldo Leopold: His Life and Work. Stanley Temple is professor emeritus of forest and wildlife ecology and environmental studies and senior fellow at the Aldo Leopold Foundation.
Skip to content. But its message about our relationship with nature is more important now than ever. Individual donations are behind the clarity in coverage from our reporters across the state, stories that connect us, and conversations that provide perspectives.
Help ensure MPR remains a resource that brings Minnesotans together. Donate today. However with the advent of Earth Day in it became an influential classic of conservation literature.
Share Twitter Facebook Email. Your support matters. Support MPR News. Program Schedule Station Directory. He devoted substantial time throughout his career to providing recreational opportunity through wildlife conservation, wilderness protection, land restoration, and other means.
When he spoke of those blank spaces [places] on the map, what do they mean to you in the 21st century? We still have many relatively blank if I may coin a phrase places on our maps. We still have places that we can value for the comparatively light footprint of humans, even as we acknowledge that our carbon footprints, and plastic footprints, and chemical footprints are pervasive, and have been for a long time.
These places are still home to the rocks and soils and waters and to our fellow non-human earthlings—all of us facing together the rapidly changing atmosphere and oceans. They still call forth our respect and our humility. But the blank places also involve our sense of the sacred and the mysterious and the beautiful. And those places exist all around us, wherever we find ourselves, from our most remote wildlands to our most human-dominated urban cores.
Those places are also within us—the unknown and overlooked microbiome, chock-full of the little wild things that keep us going. Wilderness in the classic sense has taken in its hits, both literally and in terms of our historical and cultural understanding. Wildness persists. To understand that resonance, it helps to understand the circumstances of its writing.
He composed it in , at the behest of his student Albert Hochbaum. Hochbaum was pursuing graduate studies under Leopold, focused on waterfowl in Canada and the upper Midwest. Hochbaum was also a gifted artist, and was working with Leopold to illustrate the essays that became A Sand County Almanac.
Leopold resisted at first, but finally came around. In offering his mea culpa , Leopold reached a deeper layer of meaning, and readers pick up on this. It holds up to multiple readings, I think, because in rereading it we find ourselves reflecting on our own changing views on the world and our lives within it! Aldo Leopold, left, and H.
Albert Hochbaum. Hochbaum was one of several Leopold students who went on to distinguish themselves in different realms of ecology, setting the stage, in fact, for the rise of modern conservation biology. They included Leopold's own children. Hochbaum, a field researcher and artist, is noted for his insights about waterfowl, his work being used in campaigns to save wetlands from being drained and converted to crops or development.
As someone who has studied his writing, how would you describe his thoughts, generally speaking, about predators? Based not only on his personal experience, but on emerging field research and new ethical frameworks, his early, simplistic view of predators as detrimental to game populations evolved into a much more sophisticated understanding of the role of predators in general in ecological communities.
But he was also a pragmatist who understood that protection and recovery of large apex predators was fraught with difficulty and compromise. Nevertheless, he persisted in his view that we had to rethink our relationships to large predators and strive to make room for them.
One might choose many statements he made on this point. When we elect to remove deer and elk predators, we automatically assume responsibility for performing their job.
We have failed to do this because we have failed to realize that they had a job. Wolves were always sign-posts along that route.
It would be fatal to the forestry program to allow tree-eating rabbits and deer to increase to unreasonable levels. These essays are the delights and dilemmas of one who cannot…the opportunity to see geese is more important than television, and the chance to find a pasque-flower is a right as inalienable as free speech. Page Is education possibly a process of trading awareness for things of lesser worth?
The goose who trades his is soon a pile of feathers. If you are a die-hard environmentalist or you just like to read poetic things this book is for you. View all 6 comments. Jul 02, Rob Baker rated it it was amazing Shelves: nonfiction-independent-reading. Every page brims with beautiful prose, wry wit, detailed observation, and a love of the natural world.
It could also be interesting to read a version of this book annotated with updates about the state of some of the topics today. Some ecological areas of concern expressed here have no doubt gotten worse, while others--bolstered perhaps by warnings coming from visionaries such as Leopold and books such as his--may have improved. It is essential reading for every citizen who appreciates lovely writing that speaks to the soul, the heart, and the mind and who cares about the fate of our natural world.
This is a difficult book to rate. On the one hand, there is incredible value to be gained from the author's keen sense of observation. The first set of essays, the Sand County Almanac, takes us through a year of observing nature at work on Leopold's farm.
He discovers firsthand how certain plants fare better when collocated. He bands chickadees and later discovers the bands in the pellets of a screech owl. He gains broad insights from small things that most of us pass by every day without consid This is a difficult book to rate. He gains broad insights from small things that most of us pass by every day without considering. It's an ode to getting out of the classroom and into the field.
He also supplies us with several formidable quotes and anecdotes on the importance of wilderness and conservation, especially in the later essays. The Flambeau River story pp. But Mr. Leopold is also a product of his time, and it shows. He decries the decline of the grizzly whose numbers have since recovered but shares a tasty outdoor recipe that uses bear fat.
He decries the overhunting of various species, but then goes fishing for rainbow trout and comments with some satisfaction of smoking on a midstream rock while he could hear the trout "kicking in the bed of wet alder leaves at the bottom of the creel" p. In some respects, the work is as much an ode to hunting as to conservation. I don't oppose hunting, but I also feel the author fails to adequately address how hunting holds a proper place in the balance of things.
Leopold also demonstrates substantial hubris towards his fellow man. He mocks a birder who attempts to describe a particular bird call in his log p.
Why be so nasty?!? I was personally insulted when he divided humans into four camps, including three types of hunters and one other type, the "non-hunter": The deer hunter habitually watches the next bend; the duck hunter watches the skyline; the bird hunter watches the dog; the non-hunter does not watch p. Leopold, I beg to differ. I recognize that he - inevitably - carries assumptions of his own time. I just question whether his message, which was highly appropriate and advanced for his time, still resonates as effectively.
It certainly should be required reading for any student of conservation or ecology, in order to understand the historic roots of the movement. For the layperson, though, I for one would rather turn someone on to contemporary nature writers such as Robert Macfarlane or Roger Deakin. I enjoyed the illustrations of my edition. Any new printing would benefit, I think, from the inclusion of color plates that illuminate key topics such as the loss of biodiversity on the plains.
View all 3 comments. Feb 12, Dnicebear rated it it was amazing. In honor of re-reading this book I take an hour walk in my neighborhood before I write my review. Behind the loud barking of too many dogs and below the many paved roads and above the blooming non-native eucalyptus and acacia I hear the trilling of the junco and call of red shouldered hawk. I see light sparkling on a natural stream that flows open to the air.
I smell the Douglas fir, and I feel the sun pouring out her loving warmth and light. I envision bat houses and blooming native plants at t In honor of re-reading this book I take an hour walk in my neighborhood before I write my review. I envision bat houses and blooming native plants at the too perfect grounds of the Mormon temple, and I make a ritual out of speaking to the man who is digging up long untouched soil to redo a fence.
I mourn at the spot where wild honeybees have been evicted from the hollow of a eucalyptus tree and I admire the honeycombs the bees had built. Let Aldo Leopold speak to you, and who knows what you might notice in your neighborhood. I'm planning to attend a gathering near Point Reyes in one month, Geography of Hope, and this year's inspiration behind the gathering is Aldo Leopold's land ethic.
We will see a film called "Green Fire," and I can't wait to be with others who are still inspired by this man who lived Deep Green Passion, here I come. A quote from Mr Leopold: "One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds. I want to tie this book to my heart like a kite and fly it daily. I want to know my grandfather and father found Leopold long before I did. I want the chance to talk to them about it, about conservation, about the way they taught me so much by letting me watch the way they loved and respected the woods, the lake, the pristine heartbeat of our wild places.
I want to memorize full chapters to be able to recite them to the trail on long runs, my legs becoming one with the timeless stories only tree I want to tie this book to my heart like a kite and fly it daily. I want to memorize full chapters to be able to recite them to the trail on long runs, my legs becoming one with the timeless stories only trees can tell. May 08, J. First published in , this is a 3-part series of essays by prominent wilderness-advocate Aldo Leopold.
Parts 2 and 3, Sketches Here and There and The Upshot, are essays he wrote about his ideas on land use and wildlife conservation. Personally, I thought Part 1 was the best. The monthly info was kind of nice, although not nearly as charming as Hal Borland's lesser-known Beyond Your Doorstep: A Handb First published in , this is a 3-part series of essays by prominent wilderness-advocate Aldo Leopold. The monthly info was kind of nice, although not nearly as charming as Hal Borland's lesser-known Beyond Your Doorstep: A Handbook to the Country published in Borland's observations were more complete and wide-ranging and is much more than a monthly accounting and gave a better feeling for what his farm was like than Leopold's.
But this book became a chore to read in Parts 2 and 3 when he gives his prescriptions for the issues of the day. Part 2 especially reminded me of a saying I once heard that an environmentalist is someone who already has his cabin in the woods or farm in the country, in this case and complains about the more recent arrivals than himself.
And Part 3 just sounded seriously outdated - which makes sense since it was written 70 years ago. I don't recommend this book simply because there are much better options. If you're interested in outdoor writing because you want a little escape, I highly recommend the above mentioned Borland book, or perhaps A Naturalist Goes Fishing if you're into that.
If you're looking for more serious histories about environmental problems I'll offer several suggestions: Nature Wars , Engineering Eden , Four Fish , or Megafire. If you don't mind a little controversy, I'd also recommend The New Wild as a very thought-provoking read. After all, there's only so much time to read - make it count.
Oct 22, Bob Brinkmeyer rated it it was amazing. More on this in a moment. Leopold argued that for most people land was merely property, the only relation economic.
It implies respect for his fellow-members, and also respect for the community as such. It is wrong when it ends otherwise. There are three parts to this book. The first, 'A Sand County Almanac', is the prettiest part.
Mostly essays about Leopold's love and connection with nature throughout his life. The second part, 'Sketches Here and There', is exactly that, essays about the places he has spent time in and his reflections on how we use and abuse these places. The last part, 'The Upshot', is the hardest writing. Here Leopoldo puts his background in forestry and wildlife management to use describing what's happening There are three parts to this book.
Here Leopoldo puts his background in forestry and wildlife management to use describing what's happening to our environment and what the future holds in store if it continues in this fashion. It's amazing when you look at the fact this was written sometime in the 40's how relevant Leopold's concerns and warnings still are. Some of the things he saw happening have become much worse and some are still an ongoing process.
Have we really made so little progress in the last 60 years? It was published in , and has sold over two million copies. He was born in Iowa in , when Earth was inhabited by just 1. It was an era before radio, television, automobiles, airplanes, computers, DDT, nuclear fission, and antibiotics. Most roads were dirt. Vast ancient forests still thrived. On the first page, Leopold informs us that this is a book for people who cannot live without wild things.
Part one is a series of twelve sketches, one for each month. They describe how the land changes during the circle of the seasons — the return of the geese, the mating ritual of the woodcocks, the rutting of the deer, the bloody snow where predators snatched prey.
They describe what life was like in simpler times, before the sprawl, the malls, the highways, the tsunami of idiotic consumer crap. People were more in touch with the life of the land, because it had not yet been deleted.
In , Leopold bought a farm in Wisconsin. The previous owner had tried and failed to make a living tilling the lean sandy soil. The place was cheap, far from the highway, worthless to civilization, but a precious sanctuary for a nature-loving professor. Luckily, the soil mining enterprise perished quickly, before it had time to exterminate the wildness. Leopold loved the great outdoors. He loved hiking and hunting. Birds fascinated him. He spent many years working for the U.
Sadly, he lived in a culture that was waging full-scale war on nature, and this drove him mad. It was so senseless. During his life, the population had grown from 1. Part two presents observations, made in assorted times and places, about the damaged relationship between Americans and nature.
This relationship was often abusive, because it lacked love. There often was no relationship at all. Many folks had no sense of connection to the rest of the family of life. For them, nature was nothing more than a treasure chest of resources that God created for the amusement of ambitious nutjobs.
Leopold was saddened by the trends. He learned to never revisit places that had amazed him in his youth. It was too painful to see the damage that commerce and tourism were tirelessly inflicting. It was best not to turn sweet memories into heartbreaking nightmares. He was raised in an era when it was perfectly normal to kill wolves, coyotes, and other predators at every opportunity. The most famous essay in this book is Thinking Like a Mountain. Having just shot a wolf, the gunman noticed a fierce green glow in its eyes.
With the wolves eliminated, the deer multiplied in numbers, stripping the vegetation off the mountain, and wrecking the ecosystem. Deer lived in fear of wolves, and the mountain lived in fear of deer. Part three is essays describing the need for a land ethic. Cultures have ethics to define right and wrong.
Traditionally, these defined person-to-person interactions, or the interactions between individuals and society. Leopold lamented that American culture lacked a land ethic, rules for living with the natural world, the family of life.
In our culture, as long as the land was not claimed and defended by someone else, you were free to do whatever you pleased. Mainstream education was close to useless, because it was incapable of recognizing the glaring defects in the mainstream worldview. It loaded young minds with the crash-prone software of infantile self-interest.
Generation after generation was being programmed to spend their lives as robotic servants to our economic system. The education system and the economic system were the two primary threats to the health of the land. Today, 65 years later, the lunacy has become a roaring hurricane.
Leopold would be horrified and furious. Leopold was a pleasant lad, glowing with love for the natural world, and a gifted storyteller. But this should not be the only ecology book you ever read. Since , there has been an explosion of research in anthropology, archaeology, ecology, and environmental history. Many important discoveries have been made about hunter-gatherers, agriculture, deforestation, civilization, finite resources, climate change, and ecological sustainability.
At the time, he knew we were on a bad path, and we needed to pay serious attention to where it was taking us. He clearly understood what we needed. Since the book was published, population has skyrocketed from 2. Our leaders, educators, and the vast human herd remain lost in a dream world where perpetual growth is the only channel on the glowing screens. It has paralyzed our culture, and condemned our descendants.
Hopefully, in its aftermath, important lessons will be learned and never forgotten.
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