Last Thursday, Dr. Weber visited Lafayette to talk about sustainability and environmental consciousness on college campuses. Undoubtedly, a college campus is an important forum for the development of sustainable thinking. Students are often open to embracing new ideas and pushing the boundaries of societal norms. However, how does this new generation of “green” thinkers carry their newfound passion for the environment into the professional world upon graduation.

While millennials are increasingly involved in environmental advocacy, Generation X and the Baby Boomers still dominate the corporate world and thus, dominate the decision making behind some of the most environmentally destructive actions and tendencies.

As an economics and environmental studies double major, I’m interested in exploring the relationship between business and the environment. This past summer, I interned for a large investment company. Typically, the finance industry rarely acknowledges environmentalism or sustainability. In fact, hundreds of billions of dollars are invested in industries that contribute greatly to some of the biggest environmental problems. However, this can change. During my internship, I had the opportunity to meet with the company’s sustainability coordinator. While much of our conversation centered around the company’s commitment to increasing environmental awareness internally, we also talked about the potential for an increased focus on “sustainable investing.”

Sustainable investing is the introduction of environmental consciousness into asset management. Ideally, this concept would focus on a set of sustainability requirements or environmental standards that a company must meet before they are invested in. As the second largest mutual fund company in the country, with almost $2 trillion assets under management, the company that I worked for has the ability to influence countless companies and investors across various industries. The reality of the corporate world is that “money talks.” Unlike government legislation which is often highly contested and lobbied, sustainable investing has the ability to directly influence companies to readjust their sustainable thinking. If certain standards must be met to receive funding, then asset management firms around the world have the ability to change the way different industries think about the environment.

Sustainability today is more than recycling and turning the lights off. If we are to truly make a difference in our environment, we must think bigger. While sustainability on college campuses is incredibly valuable, I am equally excited by the sustainable thinking that is taking place in the corporate world. As more millennials enter the work force in the coming years, I hope that an increased passion for the environment will continue to take its place in all professional environments.

“In short, a land ethic changes the role of Homo sapiens from conqueror of the land-community to plain member and citizen of it. It implies respect for his fellow-members, and also respect for the community and such” (Leopold, 240).

Leopold’s brief summary of his idea of “land ethic” stood out to me in the reading as a critically important detail that points out what the world needs now. In order to properly conserve and achieve a widespread sustainable mindset, people must first respect the surroundings and strive for this land ethic.

“No important change in ethics was ever accomplished without an internal change in our intellectual emphasis, loyalties, affections, and convictions. The proof that conservation has not yet touched these foundations of conduct lies in the fat that philosophy and religion have not yet heard of it” (Leopold, 246).

This passage highlights the difficulty in achieving the aforementioned land ethic. To reach people on a deeper, meaningful level remains a task that requires significant efforts over a great period of time. Such change cannot be achieved overnight or even over multiple years. Once an idea, such as conservation, reaches foundations of belief and conduct, then it will be an integral idea. At such an ideal point, conservation would simply be a given aspect of daily life actions for people.

“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 the land. Health is the capacity of the land for self-renewal. Conservation is our effort to understand and preserve this capacity” (Leopold, 258).

Leopold simply states the significance of a land ethic in terms of conservation and health of the land. These three key points (land ethic, health, and conservation) are the integral facets to environmental awareness and protection that people must sincerely work to achieve in our time.

The other day I had the opportunity to have a quick chat with Dr. Shana Weber and some students. Right before she walked into the meeting we were discussing how great it is that we have so many environmentally motivated clubs, but how much of a bummer it is when or events and activities overlap. We talked about how it feels like we are stepping on each others’ toes, and how nice it would be if things were planned out in a way to avoid this. As this discussion was coming to close Dr. Shana Weber came into the room and we had a great discussion about the prospect of a Sustainability Coordinator on our campus, and what this position could do to benefit the endeavors of our various clubs. One point of her discussion really spoke to the group of us, as it addressed this issue we had just been talking about. She talked about how her role also allows Princeton to coordinate all environmental efforts on campus. Rather than working on their missions separately they have been able to make their work coordinated efforts at Princeton, and her position also allows her to push the clubs to get more done together. They have a council that meets with her and they discuss progress, goals, and action so that no efforts conflict, but rather all synergize. Following this meeting we felt inspired by this, and decided to bring all the groups together into what we are calling the “Environmental Coalition” for now. Next week we are going to have our first meeting to work on the formation of the group similar to the Green Council Dr. Shana Weber introduced to us during the conversation. We are very excited to see how this will facilitate the environmental efforts of our groups on campus! Thank you for the inspiration Dr. Shana Weber!

“The extension of ethics to this third element in human environment is, if I read the evidence correctly, an evolutionary possibility and an ecological necessity. It is the third step in a sequence. The first two have already been taken. Individual thinkers since the days of Ezekiel and Isaiah have asserted that the despoliation of land is not only inexpedient but wrong. Society, however, has not yet affirmed their belief. I regard the present conservation movement as the embryo of such an affirmation” (239).

This quote stood out to me be I found that it contains a sense of optimism, that Leopold feels we are in the starting stages of our conservation movement at that time of extending our ethics to the land.

“A land ethic of course cannot prevent the alteration, management, and use of these ‘resources,’ but it does affirm their right to continued existence, and, at least in spots, their continued existence in a natural state” (240).

This line in particular stood out to me because we recently discussed the concept of Deep Ecology in my conservation biology class. While discussing this concept we spoke of the intrinsic value all things had, their equal right to existence, and their equal value to us humans. I think this line shows Leopold wants to be realistic about this goal he is putting forth, but he is also expressing the deep ecology rooted in his idea for the Land Ethic.

“(A) regards the land as soil, and its function as commodity-production; another group (B) regards the land as biota, and its function as something broader” (258-259).

Another line from the Land Ethic that caught my eye. I really love this synergy I am finding between Conservation Biology and this class. We looked at anthropocentrism vs. deep ecology, and I think group A expresses the anthropocentric side, while group B expresses this deep ecology side. It is interesting to see a concept we took notes on in that class, demonstrated in a reading we done for this class; it is nice to see these things in a variety of ways.

The passage in Sand County Almanac on pages 190-191 regarding the tree growth on the north and south side of Mt. Spessart got me thinking about the first reading assignment we were given. The passage talked about how during the Medieval Ages the north side of the mountain was stripped of tress in order to allow for farming while the south side was preserved for deer habitats. The north side was then re-planted with Scotch pine while on the south side there were old-growth Spessart Oak.

This really got me thinking about what I think I’m observing as nature. I have no idea about the history of the nature landscapes that I interact with. That being said, what I think I’m seeing as nature could be completely different species than what were originally there before human involvement. Because I am without this knowledge I am completely misinterpreting the nature that I interact with.

Does nature even exist anymore? Are we all just interacting with a false nature that was created by man? Or are we just without wilderness and nature is what humans have created?

This weekend I had the chance to sit down with some friends on a rainy night and watch the Disney classic, Pocahontas. One line in particular from the movie spoke to me in coordination with a line from Leopold’s Land Ethic. Both Pocahontas and Leopold are addressing this issue we have with claiming the Earth around us as property when it is not right. I thought it was so interesting to see the same sentiment coming from two very different pieces. I also do not think this line in Pocahontas would has resonated with me as much as it did if I had not read the Land Ethic right before. Here are the lines from the two that I put together:

“You think you own whatever land you land on
The earth is just a dead thing you can claim
But I know every rock and tree and creature
Has a life, has a spirit, has a name”
–Pocahontas

“There is yet no ethic dealing with man’s relation to land and to the animals and plants which grow upon it. Land, like Odysseus’ slave-girls, is still property. The land relation is still strictly economic, entailing privileges but no obligations.”
–The Land Ethic

This weekend I went to my beach house on the Jersey Shore to close it up for the season. While there, I walked to the beach where they had piled up the sand to prevent the beach from eroding. It was high tide and mid day on Saturday and the waves were 15 to 20 feet high because of the storm. The waves were frothing brown foam and few brave souls had gone onto the beach to take pictures. Even where there is such danger, people are always intrigued by the ocean.

The winds are whipping and are at least 40 mph. Some of the sand has made its way on to the street and will need to be swept back underneath the boardwalk. After Super Storm Sandy this beach had to be replenished by adding more sand from the deep ocean and pumping it up onto the shore. So is this man made beach really still nature? Or is it artificial?

“Land, then, is not merely soil; it is a fountain of energy flowing through a circuit of soils, plants, and animals. Food chains are the living channels which conduct energy upward; death and decay return it to the soil. The circuit is not closed; some energy is dissipated in decay, some is added by absorption from the air, some in soils, peats, and long-lived forests; but it is a sustained circuit, like a slowly augmented revolving fund of life” (Leopold 253).

Here, Leopold concisely explains the interconnectedness of everything in nature. This is an incredibly important passage because it redefines land as a being in itself with an impressive ability to exhibit sustainable growth. I truly believe the cyclical or “revolving” manner in which it operates can be used as a model for how human ecology – economy – should operate in a way respectful of the land ethic. It’s difficult, after reading this passage, to not be impressed by the intrinsic value of ecosystems.

“All was mountain and forest on every hand. Civilization seemed to have done little more than to have scratched this rough, shaggy surface of the earth here and there. In any such view, the wild, the aboriginal, the geographical greatly predominate. The works of man dwindle and the original features of the huge globe come out. Every single object of point is dwarfed; the valley of the Hudson is only a wrinkle in the earth’s surface. You discover with a feeling of surprise that the great thing is the earth itself, which stretches away on every hand so far beyond your ken” (Burroughs 24).

In this passage, Burroughs demonstrates the very specific feeling associated with being in the wilderness. The overwhelming feeling of escaping civilization and witnessing vastness that can only really be seen when viewing a wilderness scene such as the one he was is detailed here. I think Leopold and Burroughs would agree that these kinds of emotions and realizations can help society move towards fulfilling the land ethic. As Leopold said, that cultural movement will take intellectual and emotional development. Experiences such as this one could potentially help build the emotional stock and push society further towards the land ethic.