ENST 455 Environmental Literature Spring 2005
Writing Assignment 2: Responses to A Sand County Almanacand associated works by Aldo Leopold
Due: April 25
You are to compose written responses to the
questions and instructions outlined below. Your paper should total no more
than four printed pages, double-spaced with standard margins.
1. Rather than simply a passive observer of nature, Aldo Leopold portrays himself as an active participant in ecological relations, practicing what he calls "land husbandry" or, in the truest sense of the term, "conservation." What activities in the book suggest this ? What is the resultant relationship between humans and the environment ?
2. In his essay "The Legacy of Aldo Leopold," noted writer Wallace Stegner laments that given the end-of-the-millenium debate concerning jobs vs the environment, the development of a Leopoldian land ethic may neveroccur in this country. What did Leopold mean by the land ethic ? Do you agree with Stegner ? Why or why not ?
3. In the words of environmental historian Susan Flader, A Sand County Almanac "contains no panaceas, no blueprints for mass action. It is simply one man's expression of his experience with the land, offered to others who would search their own way, in their own time and place, for the larger meaning and purpose in life." How has this little book planted seeds (or pine seedlings) in your own life, or has perhaps altered the perceptive filters through which you view the world ? In other words, respondto Leopold's literary efforts.
4. Prepare three written questions stimulated by your assigned readings that would be suitable for oral class discussion.