We lived Aldo's philosophy for the past 11 years, and the fruits of this dedication are just beginning to pay off. Let's look at Leopold briefly. A land ethic changes the role of Homo sapiens from conqueror of the land-community to plain member and citizen of it. It implies respect for his fellow-members and also respect for the community as such. A land ethic, then, reflects the existence of an ecological conscience, and this in turn reflects a conviction of individual responsibility for the health of the land.
Health is the capacity of the land for self-renewal.
Conservation is our effort to understand and preserve this capacity. When Leopold forwarded the Land Ethic as a major philosophical statement, few really grasped its meaning. The land ethic is being made more real to many, but it still remains a very difficult philosophy to apply to today's agriculture. Economics now rules the world of agricultural commerce, from food conglomerates that dominate animal, seed and grocery markets to federal policies that emphasize production with little for research and education for the farmer and small land holder. Quit thinking about decent land use as solely an economic problem.