Land Ethic? What Land Ethic?

摘要

Just over 60 years ago, Aldo Leopold argued for a 'land ethic,' a self-imposed limitation on the degree to which a person modifies the landscape, in order to protect overall ecosystem quality. Leopold's 'The land ethic' is the last essay in his book A sand county almanac (A. Leopold, 1949). Leopold 'describes the development of an ethic of environmental protection' (Blackburn, 1994), and notes that people were already 'separated from the land by, innumerable physical gadgets' (A. Leopold, 1949, p. 261). In the land ethic, Leopold proposes an extension of traditional ethics (which regulates behavior among humans), to include a respect for the biotic community. He expresses this ethic of environmental protection as thus: 'A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise' (A. Leopold, 1949, p. 262). Blackburn (1994) echoes Leopold's philosophy in expressing the connection among ethics, science, and decision-making in protecting the environment.