A Sand County Almanac

The book, A Sand County Almanac, written by Aldo Leopold touches ethical issues and speaks his voice clearly and plainly. Leopold bathes the reader in multiple main ideas that all focus around environmental ethics. He portrays these ideas through argument, description and explanation. From the realization of how the land is a community of living things we can then appreciate the knowledge obtained from ecology. This allows us to become aware of the importance of the conservation of land and the actual knowledge that can be found within a community conjoined with ours.

Ethics rest upon a single premise that an individual is of a community of interdependent parts. A human being in the modern world finds it instinctual to compete amongst his peers for a place, or recognition. The only boundary that keeps people from beating each other over the head with a lead pipe is ethics. Ethics prompt one to cooperate amongst peers. In A Sand County Almanac, Leopold made it clear that the land is a community of living things. "The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals; or collectively: the land. ... In short, a land ethic changes the role of Homo sapiens from conqueror of the land-community to plain member and citizen of it." Leopold is simply extending the community, which most consider consist of strictly humans, to include nature. This encourages the audience to view nature as a part of the community rather than a commodity.

Leopold states the theoretical concepts that could be found in the constructs of ecology as ethical implications. He is aware of the notion that it is impossible to derive ethical conclusions from facts alone. Thus he resorts to the empirical knowledge that was obtained from observing nature and offers the description and explanation to the audience. The imagery used by Leopold allows a visual connection to the audience. creating a trusting bond. This displays our inability to access anything of the truth without actual narratives to fully understand the subject. The realization of this cynicism is a critical point to actually accessing the knowledge that is narrated in these essays creating a sense of validity in the writing.

In the beginning of the writing Leopold speaks of two spiritual dangers that come from not owning a farm. "One is the danger of supposing that breakfast comes from the grocery, and the other that heat comes from a furnace." These truths begin the novel by providing us with an appropriate lesson in appreciating ecology. Leopold then moves on to the narration of a fallen tree that he cuts through. He refers to the pieces as " Fragrant little chips of history." And begins a lesson as he cuts through each ring. Every layer withholds information from the past both human and natural. As the teeth of the blade dig deeper we are provided with a lesson in the interweaving of ecological and social history.

Leopold finds the importance of awareness over the traditional