Lessons from Leopold

A couple weeks ago the Aldo Leopold Foundation celebrated Leopold with a week of workshops celebrating his life and work. I was only introduced to him last summer, but he has become an inspiration to me. This initial connection was made as I was recreating Elevate to focus on building relationships between ourselves, each other, the land, and our spirituality. In an environmental philosophy class, I came across his quote, “There are two things that interest me: the relation of people to each other and the relation of people to the land.” It was reading these words that I fell for the man that was Aldo Leopold and now carry his lessons with me and now impart them on you.

Aldo Leopold was one of the first few foresters as forestry was a fairly new concept to North America having been brought over from Europe by Gifford Pinchot. Pinchot was a forerunner of the concept of conservation although few know his name. Pinchot understood that we needed to replace the trees we were harvesting as we used up lumber creating new towns and cities. Pinchot created the forestry school at Yale University of which Leopold attended. In the beginning of his career, Leopold focused on game management. Over the years he and fellow foresters would hunt predators to create a type of hunter’s paradise until he eventually saw the symbiotic relationship between predator and prey. This transition of perspective was initiated by an experience he had killing a wolf. As he got close to his prey he looked into her eyes and watched what he later described as the ‘green fire’ burning out as she left this world. He would not fully understand this experience until much later in his life, but he often contemplated the experience even as he developed textbooks on game management that are still used today. Later in his life he moved his family to a small shack on a sandy piece of land in Wisconsin. There, he watched nature around him and took on the task of regenerating the area to be once again abundant in both flora and fauna. Before his death in 1948, Leopold penned the book Sand County Almanac, a compilation of nature observations and the concept of ‘The Land Ethic’ that was then published post-mortem. While Leopold will never know the impact of his work, it continues to impact those in each new generation. In this is where the first lesson lies. You may never know the impact you have, but that does not mean you should not try. Like the saying goes, you plant a tree not for yourself, but for future generations to enjoy.

Another lesson learned from Leopold can be found in his quote, “Only the mountain has lived long enough to listen objectively to the howl of a wolf.” This quote reframed the idea of time for me. In his book Toward Unity Among Environmentalists, Bryan G. Norton breaks down Leopold’s idea of time to understand it beyond human life on this planet. The Earth has gone through millennia of changes and yet we humans believe we and only we are the problem and solution to all environmental issues. Yet, we do not and cannot fathom the full breadth of ‘life’ on this planet. In other words, Leopold states, “We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.” We humans see the world in terms of human life, as if it beats just for us, but we are part of a larger community and we must make nature-based decisions on this perspective.

What I love most about Leopold’s story is seeing the transition from game manager to ecologist. He understood the concept of conservation, but even in that framework he saw the flaws of man stretch what is means to have harmony with nature. These days, many seek a more sustainable lifestyle although we have made it difficult to accomplish as we choose the convenient paths of local grocery stores that comprise of industrial agricultural goods, cheap clothes outsourced from third world countries, and throwing away items that fill our landfills and waterways. Becoming sustainable in this landscape takes time and effort. It is a process and one we must embrace and provide space for others to accomplish without guilt or shame. We must allow others to go through the transition, to help them build their relationship with the land and with others. It is Leopold’s legacy and just a few of the lessons I have gleaned from his life and work. Forever has my life changed in knowing his words and I hope to continue in his footsteps starting first with this article. Go find your ‘green fire’, the catalyst of sustainable change.

Homepage | The Aldo Leopold Foundation