Aldo Leopold The Land Ethic Summary

After reading “The Land Ethic” by Aldo Leopold I found that his research and understanding of land ethics is very thorough and he makes valid points that should be read by everyone in our society. He gives a different outlook on land that makes sense and creates a vivid image of the way that we as human should view land. He describes land as not just soil that lies beneath our feet or below the plants that we walk on, cut, or eat, but as the first layer in a community of which each piece is dependent on one another. If one piece of the community were to fall or not do what it is intended, it would in turn make it difficult for the rest of the community the thrive as it should. When thinking of land it makes it easier if it is thought of as
Most consider land to just be the soil, plants, and rock that surround us every time we step foot outdoors. Land is actually every natural piece of our world. It consist of everything from dirt right on up to living breathing organisms. Leopold likes to describe this philosophy as the Biotic Pyramid. There are several layers in which make up the pyramid. Each having its own distinct place and duty. Like a pyramid as it ascends it begins to get smaller. Just like the way the ecosystem that we are a part of works. I really understood the way the Leopold describes it. He describes it as “each successive layer depends on those below it for food and often for other services, and each in turn furnishes food and services to those above. Proceeding upward, each successive layer decreases in numerical abundance. Thus, for every carnivore there are hundreds of his prey, thousands of their prey, millions of insects, uncountable plants.” Plants feed off sunlight and water, insects feed on the plants along with other organisms of the environment. Then they are then fed on and so on and so forth to the top of the food chain where death and decay return it back to the soil where they plant are then formed. The cycle is so complex and larger than we even realize. As evolution continues and beings begin to evolve different parts of the circuit being to change. As they change others are forced to adapt and change with it to keep the circuit connected in its never ending