Aldo Leopold

A Sand County Almanac

1. IDEA 1

   Land is a community

   Leopold, an American forester and ecologist, argues that humans should see land as a community to which they belong, not a commodity they own. He calls this view the land ethic.

2. IDEA 2

   A farm shows the seasons

   Leopold describes a year on his worn-out Wisconsin farm, which he and his family worked to restore. He notes the return of geese, flowers and birds. He presents this as a lesson in patience and in learning from the land.

3. IDEA 3

   A wolf changed his view

   In a famous essay, Leopold describes shooting a wolf as a young man and watching it die. He later understood how killing wolves harmed mountains by letting deer overgraze. The experience stayed with him all his life.

All 8 ideas from A Sand County Almanac →