Running Head: Extraordinary Vision

Extraordinary Vision
Merissa Nay Dever
Conservation Biology 1120-400












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Thinking of life, beings, and environments in terms of a pyramid, is a new and
thought provoking idea to me. My previous knowledge of pyramids consisted of The
Great Pyramids of Egypt, and the human Food Guideline Pyramid that says not to eat
so much sugar. After reading Aldo Leopolds definition of the land pyramid, written in
The Land Ethic chapter of A Sand County Almanac, I was able to put a picture into my
head of how entwined everything in life really is. As he stated we can be ethical only in
relation to something we can see, feel, understand, love, or otherwise have faith in his
words became visual to me and helped me understand that there will be major
consequences if we lose part of our pyramid. It seems like such an easy concept, yet is
obviously hard for us as a whole to comprehend or conquer. With mans constant need
to change and modify ones surroundings, it is scary to see how we are speeding up
evolutionary changes.
Question number 3 on the class discussion board titled Welcome and
Introduction really proves the points that Leopold was making, when he wrote about
people on a nongovernmental level, only caring if they have to. Most of the students in
this class said the reason they enrolled was because they needed to fulfill a science
credit. Some even stated that if it were not required to have a science credit they would
never have thought about taking this class. To boldly make the statement that
conservation biology is not something we should all be learning for the simple reason
that it benefits everyone and everything, frightens me. As I read in the book, it will take
all of us to make a difference for the ethical treatment of our world to exist.
While I was reading, so many ideas were going through my mind about how the
government could do this or that, to educate people and to make it a priority for us all to
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take care of our environment. The further on I read, the more I realized that I was
proving Leopolds points. It shouldnt just be the governments issue to address. We all
need to take ownership for our actions. I think we can make some amazing changes
around us by strengthening the bond between government and the people. By making
the education aspects more available to all people, of all ages we can start to head in
the right directions. If we start by teaching the young generations, we can inspire them
to have love for the biotic community, instead of just teaching them about how to profit
financially from it.
My own conservation philosophy still needs some work. I think it should always
be changing and evolving to stay active. Right now it is rather basic as a start. I believe
that I should always try to think about situations as they will evolve down the road. For
example, I am in the market for a new vehicle. I have been researching which type of
vehicle is best for me to purchase. My large wish list started out with the need for an
SUV and all the fancy gas guzzling options. The more I thought about the SUV, the
more I realized that buying a vehicle that exploits the air, is really not the correct choice.
Spending countless dollars on gas because I did not purchase a fuel efficient vehicle
has also started to wear on my mind. Not so much for the financial reasons, but for the
environmental reason of fuel consumption. I am now on the path to finding a more
environmentally friendly option that will still get me from point A to point B, without
disregarding all that is around me. My philosophy also includes the belief that I need to
always keep learning. Knowledge is the key to all things, in my mind, so I want to make
sure I learn as much as possible on how I can do my part to help conservation. I also
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want to make sure that the knowledge is passed on to my family, to keep them
grounded through life with the concept that all things matter equally.
I believe that through the use of education we can teach humans to remember
that we are all plain members of our community not owners of it. By showing the
different relationships between the pieces of the land pyramid and how they affect each
other, I believe that we can make the land ethic more of a visual reality for people to
understand and enjoy. By doing so, we could teach us to practice our ethic, and apply it
to our everyday lives.
By looking around my community, I wouldnt say we that our land-relation has
changed too much since the 1940s. Our actions as a community are still very much
driven by economic gain. One example that comes to mind is water consumption. We
all know that fresh water is a valuable resource that is dwindling right before our eyes.
Yet, we do not make the necessary adjustments to save it. We wait until the watershed
is already low, to start regulating how much water people can use on their lawns. We
plant grass in places that dont make sense, so that we can use our precious water to
keep a false sense of a green environment. If we started regulating how much water
we used now, we wouldnt get to the low level so quickly. People argue that they pay
for the water, so they should get as much as they want. I dont believe it should be at
the expense of the plants, animals, other humans in our environments that need it to
survive.
In my community I think we could extend our sensibilities as a whole, by starting
programs to teach each other ways to make improvements on a singular level. Thus
improving our impact on earth as a whole. We currently have a community garden, but
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I dont think that it is well known. We can teach our children about how to ethically care
for the soil, and the animals living around it. We can brainstorm healthy ways to deal
with pest control, without using harmful sprays and chemicals. By putting our ideas
together we could see a bigger picture and how we each fit into our piece of the
pyramid. Once we start to see our individual impacts, we can start to diminish the idea
that conservation is only the governments issue.
Taking the concepts of individual members and looking at our biotic communities
as a whole must be combined, to make a difference. Without the individuals we
wouldnt have a whole to be concerned with. I agree with Leopolds statement, A thing
is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic
community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise. Anything without integrity can only
lead us to a negative place. If we follow his words for what is right, we really cant go
wrong. Steering from that path can only cause destruction of some level.
From my life experience I find beauty and ethical duties to be equally important. I
was taught growing up, to appreciate all that is around me. I am in awe over a beautiful
sunrise/sunset because it is such a visual reminder of how amazing nature really is. I
think the sight of a deer grazing, never gets old, no matter how many I see. To know
that it lives in nature through rain, snow, sun and all other obstacles is really mind
blowing. As much as I love the beauty of wild flowers, I would like my ethical duties side
to be a bit stronger than my appreciation of beauty. Once that appreciation is obtained,
I dont think it easily disappears. I do think that once proper moral and ethical views are
heightened, positive changes can become active to help boost love and respect for our
land.
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My personal land ethic stems from a love and respect for non-human elements.
I think there is a tinge of self-interest involved, but it mostly exists because I feel that all
things in life should be treated equal. I dont think humans are of a higher stature than
anything else on this planet. It always makes me cringe when I hear of people being
shocked that an animal attacked a human in the wild. The thinking that a wild animal
should just know that a human is an unacceptable meal, cracks me up. We value
ourselves on a higher level than the rest of the land pyramid. I dont understand how
our meat is of such better grade than other animals on the food chain. I believe that
all of our surroundings have value for some reason or another. If we all could take that
concept to a higher level, myself included, we could save our Planet from the
destructive path we are headed down.
My views about conservation and ecology have definitely grown since reading
The Land Ethic. I have always been interested in the basic subjects, but this book took
my interest to a whole new level. I have a need to learn more and also to do more. I
love anything that stokes the fire inside, and this book was no exception. I have a hard
time sitting down to actually read a book, but once I started on this one, I realized how
much I enjoyed it. Leopolds words really painted mental pictures for me while I read,
which always helps me learn. It made me very curious to know his ideas in further
depth, on how to change the thinking of the human species. It seems to me that such a
strong thinker and speaker would be able to make some amazing changes in our
culture if given the proper forum to reach the masses. I had so many ideas rushing
through my mind while I was reading that I started using the voice memo feature on my
phone to capture them while they were fresh. At one point I took a break from reading
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to ask my brother if he had ever read the book. He knew who I was speaking of, but
hadnt read the book yet. I will be mailing him my copy and am sure he will enjoy it as
much as I did. The only thing I didnt care for while reading this chapter was the
reference to Japan (256). The writing of Japans radical conversion was very shortly
phrased. Without knowing the history of Japan, I felt lost by the comment. To not
understand exactly what he was referring to, left me feeling a little uneasy. It would
have been nice to have a better description of the circumstances on this one, like he did
for the other countries he discussed. But other than that, I thought it was an amazing
work. I am grateful that I had the opportunity to read this book. I truly believe that it
holds a high value that needs to be shared with as many people as possible.