All Ethics So Far Evolved

It Is Part Of Wisdom Never To Revisit A Wilderness, For The More Golden The Lily, The More Certain That Someone Has Gilded It

It Is Inconceivable To Me That An Ethical Relation To Land Can Exist Without Love, Respect, And Admiration For Land, And A High Regard For Its Value. By Value, I Of Course Mean Something Far Broader Than Mere Economic Value; I Mean Value In The Philosophical Sense.

All Ethics So Far Evolved Rest Upon A Single Premise: That The Individual Is A Member Of A Community Of Interdependent Parts. . . The Land Ethic Simply Enlarges The Boundaries Of The Community To Include Soils, Waters, Plants, And Animals, Or Collectively: The Land.

Conservation Viewed In Its Entirety, Is The Slow And Laborious Unfolding Of A New Relationship Between People And Land.

The Whole Conflict Thus Boils Down To A Question Of Degree. We Of The Minority See A Law Of Diminishing Returns In Progress; Our Opponents Do Not.