. . . do we not already
sing our love for and obligations to the land of the
free and the home of the brave? Yes, but just what and whom do
we love?
Certainly not the soil, which we are sending helter-skelter down
river.
Certainly not the rivers, which we assume have no function except
to turn
turbines, float barges, and carry off sewage. Certainly not the
plants,
of which we exterminate whole communities without batting an
eye.
Certainly not the animals, of which we have already extirpated
many of
the largest and most beautiful species. A land ethic of course
cannot
prevent the alteration, management, and use of the 'resources'
but it
does affirm their right to continued existence, and, at least
in spots,
their continued existence in a natural state.
--ALDO
LEOPOLD
