Leopold has many brilliant ideas and opinions on consumerism and how we treat our “natural” land. “A roadless marsh is seemingly as worthless to the alphabetical conservationist as an undrained one was to the empire-builders. Solitude, the one natural resource still undowered of alphabets, is so far recognized as valuable only by ornithologists and cranes.” (107) This quote expresses how preservation and consumerism are equally important to different parties, yet neither is ever satisfied with what they have. The consumerist always wants more production and technology, where the conservationist wants the opposite. This quote also discusses how people may view an untouched or preserved portion of land as useless. However, to wildlife and organizations/ individuals who are trying to keep part of this world natural, it is a great thing. One of the first things I thought about after reading this quote was how much paper I carelessly use and how wasteful I am. This is a connection because if an area of land with a lot of trees is preserved, then the consumer is not gaining anything since the trees cannot be cut down and produced into paper. Since technology has advanced, paper is becoming less and less of a necessity because many uses of paper has been taken over by computers and the internet. For years and years, environmentalists have been trying to preserve trees and wildlife, yet our fast pace world hasn’t changed our selfish wasteful ways. I think that our society has gotten used to everything being available to us whenever we want it that we don’t realize the harm we are casting upon the natural environment. It’s almost as if consumerism has brainwashed us in some way and we are too selfish to sacrifice an ounce of our comfort to do something good for the environment. I think that one of Leopold’s main ideas is that if we can slow down and appreciate nature, wildlife and our planet, we will truly understand how important it is that we preserve and stop destroying it.
Leopold, Aldo. Sand County Almanac, and Sketches Here and There. New York: Oxford UP, 1949.
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