Leopold’s Some Fundamentals of Conservation

Flader, Susan L.

doi:10.5840/enviroethics19791220

Cited by 8 publications

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“…With this view as a starting point, Leopold's views of management began a slow evolution toward less radical interventions. By 1925 he believed that wolves and mountain lions contributed to the diversity of an area and he retreated from a goal of eradication to one of control (Flader 1974 : 154). When Leopold met Charles Elton, who had initiated the transformation of ecology from a purely descriptive to a more functionally oriented science with the publication of Animal Ecology in 1927, he integrated these ideas into his own 1933 text, Game Management (Flader 1974 : 24-25).…”

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“…By 1925 he believed that wolves and mountain lions contributed to the diversity of an area and he retreated from a goal of eradication to one of control (Flader 1974 : 154). When Leopold met Charles Elton, who had initiated the transformation of ecology from a purely descriptive to a more functionally oriented science with the publication of Animal Ecology in 1927, he integrated these ideas into his own 1933 text, Game Management (Flader 1974 : 24-25). Defining "management" as "the coordination of science and use," Leopold stated that "the central thesis of game management is this: game can be restored by the creative use of the same tools which have heretofore destroyed itaxe, plow, cow, fire, and gun" (Flader 1974 : 25, quoted from Leopold 1933b).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Mientras Leopold fue atraido hacia el organicismo de Ouspen~ky, y esperaba que 10s norteamericanos, mediante un cambio pro fundo en sus percepciones con respecto a la naturaleza, In 1920 Aldo Leopold enthusiastically described his predator eradication program. He had formed a coalition of sportsmen and stockmen to eliminate wolves, mountain lions, and other large predators from Arizona and New Mexico: "But the last one must be caught before the job can be called fully successful," he said (Flader 1974 : 3). Twenty-four years later Leopold repented his war on wolves in a graceful and humble essay, "Thinking Like a Mountain," which was drafted in 1944 and published in A sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and Tbere.…”

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“…He included, as a final section, some brief remarks that he called, "Conservation as a Moral Issue." This essay remained unpublished until 30 years after Leopold's death; commentators have treated the final section as an immature draft of Leopold's conservation ethic, and some have suggested that Leopold later abandoned significant elements of the philosophy expressed there (Flader 1979: 143-144, Callicott 1987, Rolston 1987, note 3).…”

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The Constancy of Leopold's Land Ethic

Norton

1988

Conservation Biology

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Aldo Leopold's approach to environmental management changed drastically between the early 1920s, when he advocated predator eradication, and 1944, when he drafted “Thinking Like a Mountain.” How are we to understand these changes? It is shown that, early in his career, Leopold developed the basic elements of a conservation ethic, borrowing key elements from the Russian organicist P. D. Ouspensky and from A. T. Hadley, an American pragmatist who was president of Yale University when Leopold was a student there. Hadley's pragmatism counseled that we act on the wisdom embodied in the intuitive perceptions of our forefathers. While Leopold changed the presentation of his conservation ethic over the years, he never gave up these key ideas, traces of which remain in the final version of “The Land Ethic.” The changes in Leopold's management strategies were not due to a change in metaphysical or moral views, but to his evolving experience as a forester and game manager. Leopold learned that “violent” strategies, such as monocultural planting of trees, pervasive agricultural management of fragile ecosystems and, above all predator eradication, led to unforeseen and unwelcome results. Leopold recognized that we may never have adequate information to manipulate natural systems for maximal human utility without diminishing their vitality. He therefore lost faith in “economic biology” as a guide to environmental management. Leopold's changing views on management resulted from his experience as an environmental manager, not from a conversion from utilitarian anthropocentrism to biocentric nonanthropocentrism. While Leopold was drawn to Ouspensky's organicism, and he hoped Americans would through a profound change in their perceptions of nature adopt such a view eventually, he believed throughout his career that longsighted anthropocentrism provides an adequate basis for conservation practices.

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confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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The Constancy of Leopold's Land Ethic

Norton

1988

Conservation Biology

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“…He included, as a final section, some brief remarks that he called "Conservation as a Moral Issue." This essay remained unpublished until 30 years after Leopold's death; commentators have treated the final section as an immature draft of Leopold's conservation ethic, and some have suggested that Leopold later abandoned significant elements of the philosophy expressed there (Flader 1979: 143-144, Callicott 1987, Rolston 1987.…”

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Searching for Sustainability

Norton

2002

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This book examines from a multidisciplinary viewpoint the question of what we mean - what we should mean - by setting sustainability as a goal for environmental management. The author, trained as a philosopher of science and language, explores ways to break down the disciplinary barriers to communication and deliberation about environment policy, and to integrate science and evaluations into a more comprehensive environmental policy. Choosing sustainability as the keystone concept of environmental policy, the author explores what we can learn about sustainable living from the philosophy of pragmatism, from ecology, from economics, from planning, from conservation biology and from related disciplines. The idea of adaptive, or experimental, management provides the context, while insights from various disciplines are integrated into a comprehensive philosophy of environmental management. The book will appeal to students and professionals in the fields of environmental policy and ethics, conservation biology, and philosophy of science.

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Aldo Leopold and the Land Ethic

Flader

2011

Sustaining Soil Productivity in Response to Global Climate Change

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Leopold’s Some Fundamentals of Conservation

Cited by 8 publications

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The Constancy of Leopold's Land Ethic

The Constancy of Leopold's Land Ethic

Searching for Sustainability

Aldo Leopold and the Land Ethic

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