My Land Ethic

For my ethics essay I am going to cover how my idea of how the land should be treated has evolved over the years. I started off by describing why it is that I feel the environment should be protected. For me, this comes from my service in the military. I was driven to enlist by a desire to protect people. So when I encounter the fact that everyone’s life is at risk due to our negligence to protect our environment, I am admittedly upset. My basic conception of a land ethic is to treat it as the reason for your existence and your purpose is its protection from harm. If you fail to do so, then you endanger the lives of not just everyone now, but also those who have yet to have been born. The result would be a tyranny of a selfish and destructive will, against our own sons and daughters. To me this is a deplorable act and violates their basic human dignity. So, my land ethic is simply one of care and protection.