Conservation Biology, BIOL1120

Conservation Biology, BIOL1120

“The Land Ethic”

Reflection Paper – 25 pts

I. Reflection Paper Due Date: See On-line Calendar or Assignment tool. Please submit viaAssignment Dropbox. Do NOT copy/paste in submission box…use the Attachment button. This assignment must also be posted on your SLCC ePortfolio.

II. Reading Assignment:

The Land Ethic from “A Sand County Almanac, With Essays on Conservation from Round River” by Aldo Leopold, 1949. You can check this paperback out at almost any local library or find it at most used book stores. I have also provided a pdf. file under Module One.

III. Reflection Paper Requirements

The purpose of a reflection paper is to demonstrate what you have learned about principles (theories, concepts) of what you are read or viewed. A reflection paper has three elements. You might do well to think about these as roughly one page per element in your write-up.

Part I (min 1 page). A summary of The Land Ethic in your own words. This section shoulddemonstrate what you learned about the article. In the summary, you do not need an exhaustive description – in fact, you won’t have the space to provide one! You will need to decide what facts of the reading are relevant to the important lesson(s) you learned. Those are the facts that you will need to present.

Part II (1 1/2-2 pages). Using paragraphs (2-3 sentences each), write a clear and concise response to the follow questions.

1. How would you characterize your own conservation philosophy? How did you come to hold these beliefs?
2. Consider this statement: “A land ethic changes the role of humans from conqueror of the land community to plain members and citizens of it. It implies respect for his fellow-members, and also respect for the community as such.” How would you apply this ethic in practice?
3. Leopold wrote in the 1940’s, “The land-relation is still strictly economic, entailing privileges but not obligations.” What would you say is our land-relation today?
4. Leopold says the land ethic is extending a community’s sensibilities to all members of the community, nonhuman as well as human. What would that mean in your life or community?
5. Do you agree with this passage from the “Land Ethic”: “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.” Was Leopold suggesting that the integrity of the biotic community supersedes the concerns for its individual members? What are the implications of this concept for you?
6. In the “Land Ethic,” Leopold said, “It is inconceivable to me that an ethical relationship [with land] can exist without love, respect, admiration, and a high regard for its value.” Which is more motivating for you: beauty (aesthetics) or duty (ethics)?
7. In thinking about your “land ethic,” does it emanate primarily from self interest, or from a true interest in non-human elements?

Part III (1/2 page). Provide a critique of the The Land Ethic. For example: Was it a useful exercise? Did the reading change your opinion(s)? This section should also include what you felt after reading that The Land Ethic, whether you would recommend it and which parts you liked best and which you liked least and all that kind of stuff.

Part IV: Upload/post this assignment on your General Education ePortfolio. For more information on ePortfolios go to:

Reflection Paper Grading Rubric