the land ethic aldo leopold dr. green. ethical community how are these borders determined? narrow...
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The Land EthicAldo Leopold
Dr. Green
Ethical Community
• How are these borders determined?
• Narrow Borders– Odysseus could hang his slaves because they
were his property
• Wider Borders– Slavery is no longer considered ethical
• How Wide Should the Borders be Drawn?
What Is Ethics?
• Philosophically– a differentiation of social from anti-social
conduct
• Ecologically– limitations on freedom of action in the struggle
for existence
Evolutionary Change
• Free-for-all competition replaced with cooperation as individuals develop interdependencies– Biological symbioses
Stages of Evolution
• Relations of individuals– Code of Moses
• Relations within society– Individual to society in the Golden Rule– Society to individual in democracy
• Relations to nature– Still treated as property
Assumptions of Ethics
• that the individual is a member of a community of interdependent parts– Instincts tell one to compete for a place in the
community– Ethics tells one to cooperate
Land Ethic
• The land ethic enlarges the boundaries of the community to include – Soils– Waters– Plants– Animals
The Biological Pyramid
• Members– Predators– Birds and rodents– Insects– Plants– Soil
• Relationships—food chains– Stability from highly organized webs of connections– Energy flows
• Evolution– Slow
Status of Humans
• Two views– Conqueror of the land-community
• Land is commodity
• Self-interest is primary
– A member and citizen of it who must respect to total community
• Land is a biotic systems with economic and non-economic elements
Humans
• Division found in– Forestry– Wildlife management– Agriculture
Why Humans Must Change
• Conquering is self-defeating• The conqueror claims to know
– what makes the community work– what and who is valuable– what and who is worth-less
• It always turns out that he knows neither, and this is why his conquests eventually defeat themselves.– Systems are too complex to be known fully
Need for a Land Ethic
• Most members of the land community have no economic value
• Without economic value, they are not considered in our calculations– Fabricate economic value—songbirds– Eradication of
• predators—wolf• Noncommercial trees• Entire biotic communities—bogs, marshes etc.
• Those that are eliminated are needed for the healthy functioning of the ecosystem
Civilization and Environment
• Environment sets the possibilities or civilizations– Kentucky and bluegrass– Southwest
• With livestock progressive erosion
• With plants and irrigation, the Pueblo culture
• Plant succession constrains civilizations
Ecological Health
• Consists in the capacity for self-renewal
Human Intervention
• Changes are induced too rapidly
• Changes produce unpredicted and often untraceable readjustments
• Depletion of– Energy storage, i.e., soil– Cover—erosion– Water
Problems
• Can the land adjust?– Yes
• Western Europe
• Japan
• Northeast US
– No• Asia Minor
• North Africa
• South America
• Southwest US
Problems
• Can less intrusive means be developed?– Keep populations below the carrying capacity– The less violent the man made changes, the
greater the probability of successful readjustment in the pyramid.
– Violence, in turn, varies with human population density
• A dense population requires more violent conversion.
Requirements of a Land Ethics
• Organisms have a right to continue
• Preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community
Alternatives
• Government regulation– Problems become too large, too complex, or too widely
dispersed to be performed by government.
• Private self-interest– Conservation has failed to conserve
• Land Ethic– An ethical obligation on the part of the private owner is
the only visible remedy for these situations.
Impediments to a Land Ethics
• Improper education– Ecological training is scarce
• Outgrowing the land
Jared DiamondCollapse
• Causes of collapse – Environmental damage – Climate change – Hostile neighbors – Interdependencies – Social response
Environmental Damage
• Deforestation • Soil exhaustion • Water scarcity • Over-exploiting resources • Environmental impact • Introduction of new species • Over-population • Environmental toxicity through pollution• Induced climate change
• Energy shortage
Future Problems
• Natural resource problems – Habitat exhaustion – Food – Ecological diversity– Soil exhaustion
• Pollution – Chemical – Alien species
Future Problems
• Ceilings – Energy – Water – Photosynthetic capacity
• Population – Size – Impact
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