Gifford Pinchot, John Muir, and Aldo Leopold Saved the Beauty of the Wilderness

“Pinchot left Europe with some convictions about forestry. He had learned… that trees are a crop… Pinchot brought the gospel that forestry was the art of using a forest without destroying it… [He] preached that through the use of proper methods a forest could be both harvested and preserved.” (McGeary 23) This conviction reveals the underlying theory to all of the conservation movement, that nature should be viewed in the confines of its economic value. For example, Pinchot’s policy did not allow for the continuation of old growth forests, but demanded that they be cut down and let new trees to grow back in their place. “He clashed repeatedly during his career with conservationists who were basically devoted to preserving the trees.” (McGeary 87)

The affect of environmental issues occur everyday and in particular deforestation is becoming a highly ranked subject. From animals to the human race, the alacrity of trees that are cut down affects every individual in a variety of ways. Not only do people need to help the planet but they need to help themselves and further generations to come, such as children and grandchildren because these natural resources that are being taken away from society are as well shaping the future. For comprehensible reasons, forests use to make up the world, until man made creatures started to destroy and destruct the most important supply to human kind which are trees. Trees are crucial to every living entity for the reason of providing oxygen to all.

Paul Taylor approaches “respect for nature” as a moral attitude, meaning that if an individual is unable to comprehend the “meaning and conditions of applicability” of the attitude, they are also unable to have the attitude as a part of their “moral outlook” (Taylor 103). “Respect for nature” is defined by two essential concepts, the good of a being, and the concept of inherent worth.

Aldo Leopold is on the forefather of modern environmentalism. His book, A Sand County Almanac, is based on the notion of viewing land as a community and as a commodity. In the chapter “The Land Ethic”, Leopold invokes a rethinking of our relationships to our world and is based on the principle that ethics are “a process in ecological evolution” (238). Leopold describes the stages of ethic evolving and explains that the rules for socializing were originally defined for human beings. These rules are expanded upon in the next stage of “Ethical Sequence” (237-238), describing how humans interact toward their community. The third stage is the ethics between humans and the land. Upon analyzing “The Land Ethic” I have come to the conclusion that in order to have respect and ethic for land, or anything, one must make a personal connection.

John Muir and Gifford Pinchot were men who both had different opinions about the environment. Both men were active in the early 1900s, and both aimed to protect North American wilderness by opposing rapid deforestation and unregulated economic land development. Muir was a preservationist who believed that nature should be protected for its own sake and that we should protect it for its beauty. He believed nature provided spiritual renewal and met human recreational needs. As such, Muir recognized that nature met human needs in an anthropocentrist view, but he also believed that nature deserved protection for its own inherent value in an ecocentrist view. Pinchot was a conservationist who favored sustainable use of resources for the benefit

Gifford Pinchot, was born in Simsbury Connecticut on August 11, 1865. He was raised in an upper class family of politicians, merchants, and land owners. Pinchot spent most of his younger years traveling the world (The Forest History Society, 2015). He attended college at Yale where he decided he wanted to pursue in the study of Forestry. Since Yale didn’t offer Forestry, Pinchot traveled to France to fulfil his passion. Gifford Pinchot believed in conservation and thought that we should grow trees and then harvest them to improve nature (Adams, 1993). He taught people a way of practicing his guiding idea that forests can produce timber and still be maintained for future generations.

Aldo Leopold lies out his most enduring notion, in the “land ethic,” from A Sand County Almanac. Land ethic is described as a moral responsibility between the natural world and humans. This essay is extremely significant in today’s society; particularly, topics in ethical sequence, community concept, and ecological conscience are very critical.

Leopold founded the concept of a land ethic, in which humans extend ethical consideration to nonhuman nature. He states, “a land ethic changes the role of Homo sapiens from conqueror of the land-community to plain member and citizen of it (Leopold, 1949, p. 219). With this ethic in mind, the black rhinoceros should be allocated rights and given moral consideration; however, by allowing hunters to legally kill this endangered species, humans are taking away the rhinoceros’ right to live. Additionally, these permits are perpetuating the Modern Western notion that humans are separate from and superior to nonhuman nature, in contrast with Leopold’s belief that humans are simply one member of a larger world. In Leopold’s words, “a land ethic of

Gifford Pinchot was the head of the Division of Forestry. He used a conservation policy that encorperated the scientific management of natural resources to serve the public interest. His work helped start the conservation the conservation movement in 1910. He exposed the decision of Ballinger to open up previously protected land for commercial use. HE was soon fired and caused Taft to lose votes in the next

In my excerpt of the reading, In Ecotopia’s Big Wood’s, Weston laments on Ecotopia’s vast forests that are treated with human dignity. The forests are looked at in a “religious” matter and treated like family. The logging system includes education on the importance of trees in nature and how they must be preserved by any means necessary. Weston even writes about a young man, who he points out did not seem under the influence, leaning on a tree and saying, “Brother Tree!”. This appears to be the consensus of every citizen in Ecotopia. The scientists of Ecotopia have even developed biodegradable plastics out of tree pulp. Trees and the forests of Ecotopia are without a doubt a major factor in the Ecotopian economy. Weston points out that in the America of the time, and arguably the America of today, would find this to be not only a huge contradiction but also an economic penalty as a waste of time. In America, time is money and the time it takes to reforest a logged forest, let alone teaching those who are doing the logging about the importance of the forest would be looked at as a waste of time and therefore money.

There are a number of views on environmental ethics. These views consist of individual consequentialists, deontological, and holistic approaches. In addition, this assignment consists of an overview on which approaches or perspectives is most appealing to me, my view on Shue’s principles for achieving fair or equitable distribution of costs for protecting the environment, and the major differences between the holistic and individualistic approaches to environmental ethic. Furthermore, this assignment will discuss these approaches in the order listed above.

Many individuals have different opinions as to whether or not humans have an ethical obligation under justice to defend anything other than themselves. Still, many people agree with Gifford Pinchot’s belief system in that “the purpose of conservation is to protect natural resources to produce ‘the greatest good for the greatest number for the longest time’” (“Environmental ethics”). He held the beliefs of a utilitarian, meaning that he cared about all sentient beings, which includes plants and animals because he included them in his moral community. Therefore, utilitarian’s take care of these beings not only to promote life for future generations, but for those living organisms as well. They believe that it is their obligation in order to

   Paul Bunyan cuts down a forest like in minutes. He was the one who created the Great Lakes by picking up dirt to make ponds to provide drinking water for people and animals, but today there are gone. it is creating a problem for the

In The story of the Man that planted trees some main characters that demonstrated major stewardship were the Man that planted trees (the main character) who planted a bundle of pine trees in deserted places and transformed it to something unclean and brutal to a place with beauty and simplicity of just nature. Another Character is the government that accepted to keep the pine trees

Throughout the world, people have been cutting trees down all through history, even back when George Washington was president and way before then as well.There have been multiple reasons for cutting down trees, whether it is for survival or to build a house, some industries cut down the forest to make room for factories. It has not always been as easy as getting a chainsaw or wood chipper, before the industrial revolution people used to have to saw the trees and it was a lot more time consuming and physically painful. That is the past, but in the present time deforestation is an even worse problem and it is affecting everyone and everything. Cutting down trees have a positive or negative effect depending on you and the environment around you.