By Louise Segreto
Watching the fierce green fire die in the eyes of a wolf that he had mindlessly hunted and shot in a remote Arizona rim rock canyon, Aldo Leopold had an epiphany. He came to the realization that humans have a moral responsibility to the natural world. Because we are a part of the broader natural community consisting of the complex interrelationships between soils, water, plants and animals (collectively, the land), we have an ethical duty to care about preserving and safeguarding the relationships to the land. This way of thinking was a major departure from the then accepted widespread mindset in the U.S., that humans must dominate the wild and that all that is wild should solely serve man for utilitarian purposes.
Over the years, Leopold (1887-1948) a trained forester, conservationist, educator, philosopher and writer, refined his thoughts into a Land Ethic that needs to be rekindled in our troubled times of environmental assaults and looming environmental threats. His timeless book of essays, “A Sand County Almanac”, published in 1949, is both a seasonal account of Leopold’s keen nature observations on a worn -out, 80 acre, farm outside of Baraboo, Wisconsin. Here he lived with his family for years, working with the land to restore it to ecological health. “A Sand County Almanac” is an impassioned plea for a wilderness philosophy and our need for a sustainable land ethic.
Join us for two evenings to learn more about Aldo Leopold!
On Thursday, September 13 at 6:30 PM at the Bush Lake Chapter Lodge we will screen the Emmy Award winning film: “Green Fire” (approx. 60 min). “Green Fire” explores the life and legacy of Aldo Leopold and the many ways that his land ethic lives on in the work of people and organizations all over the country
Chapter historian, Louise Segreto, will introduce the film and lead the first session of a two evening Ike’s Green Reads book discussion about “A Sand County Almanac”. The second discussion evening will be held on another Thursday evening in October- date to be announced.
