Sand County Almanac

Author: Aldo Leopold (USA)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1997-12-01
Features: The book A Sand County Almanac may be relatively unfamiliar to Chinese readers, but it is renowned worldwide and has had a profound impact. It is a classic work that broadens the scope of moral studies and achieves a transformation in ethical concepts. In this work, the author Aldo Leopold created a new ethics—land ethics. He argued that this new ethics requires changing two decisive concepts and norms: 1. The concept of ethical right behavior must be expanded to include concern for nature itself, respecting all life and the natural world, stating, "When an action tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community, it is right; otherwise, it is wrong." 2. The concept of 'rights' in morality should be expanded to include natural entities and processes, granting them the right to exist sustainably. To this end, he proposed the concept of the "land community." He said, "Land ethics merely extends the boundaries of the community to include land, water, plants, and animals, or to regard them as a unified whole: the land. Humans are merely members of the land community, not its rulers, and we must respect the land. However, currently, humans still appear as conquerors and rulers of the land. For example, our natural resource utilization is entirely utilitarian. It is completely dominated by economic self-interest, not only emphasizing the feasibility of economic utilization of the land but also believing that it is perpetually feasible. This is one of its fundamental weaknesses. Nevertheless, this land utilization based entirely on economic self-interest is ineffective and unsustainable."