March 1-3 has been Aldo Leopold Week in the State of Wisconsin, celebrating Leopold, our environmental hero. In A Sand County Almanac, he set out the environmental ethic that is considered the beginning of the modern environmental movement.
“A land ethic, then, reflects the existence of an ecological conscience, and this in turn reflects a conviction of individual responsibility for the health of land.”
Each spring I pull down A Sand County Almanac to refresh my soul with his wise words. They tell of the seasons and the spring to come.
In his methodical records, Leopold kept track of the changes in the natural world. As climate change happens, those records serve as a baseline for Wisconsin. We know we are warming because the winter season grows shorter, the summers hotter and longer than they were in the 1940s when Leopold wrote.
Today, Teresa in Black Creek posted a photo of crocus shoots coming up next to her house. If they are there, almost certainly the snowdrops are near to blooming behind the library in Seymour. Tomorrow I will tramp through snowdrifts to take a look.
Within the week the vinca vines will be crawling along beside my house and nearby I should be able to dig into the snow to find my own snowdrops. Each year they seem to be a day or two earlier.
I wonder what Aldo Leopold would say about that.
“A land ethic, then, reflects the existence of an ecological conscience, and this in turn reflects a conviction of individual responsibility for the health of land.”
Each spring I pull down A Sand County Almanac to refresh my soul with his wise words. They tell of the seasons and the spring to come.
In his methodical records, Leopold kept track of the changes in the natural world. As climate change happens, those records serve as a baseline for Wisconsin. We know we are warming because the winter season grows shorter, the summers hotter and longer than they were in the 1940s when Leopold wrote.
Today, Teresa in Black Creek posted a photo of crocus shoots coming up next to her house. If they are there, almost certainly the snowdrops are near to blooming behind the library in Seymour. Tomorrow I will tramp through snowdrifts to take a look.
Within the week the vinca vines will be crawling along beside my house and nearby I should be able to dig into the snow to find my own snowdrops. Each year they seem to be a day or two earlier.
I wonder what Aldo Leopold would say about that.
No comments:
Post a Comment