ipl-logo

A Sand County Almanac By Aldo Leopold

676 Words3 Pages

Within Aldo Leopold’s novel, A Sand County Almanac, the concept of trophic cascade is brought forth with his idealistic mindset for “a land ethic”. To Leopold, the 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 as such” (Leopold 871). Utilizing this mindset, the actions, consequences, and events from Timothy Treadwell’s life depicted in the documentary Grizzly Man have an understanding and purpose for why they transpire the way they do. Timothy Treadwell lived life like no other man because of his unique passion for protecting grizzly bears from poachers. In order to protect these creatures, Treadwell decides to camp out on the Alaskan Peninsula for thirteen summers to watch over them. To …show more content…

When watching the documentary through Leopold’s lens, viewers end up giving some of Treadwell’s associates more credibility and respect; therefore, have a better understanding for the events in Treadwell’s life. For example, Dr. Haakanson’s words on Treadwell’s actions were, “you don’t do that, you don’t invade on their territory […] when you act like a bear the way he did would be disrespecting the bear and what the bear represents” (Grizzly Man). After watching this scene through Leopold’s lens, observers see Treadwell’s disrespect to the bear as disrespect to the land and deserving of the consequences of the land economical model. “[T]he land ethic reflects the existence of an ecological conscience, and this in turn reflects a conviction of individual responsibility for the health of land”, in this case the conviction led to Treadwell’s death (Leopold 867). A scene that would not have been as comprehensible without Leopold’s

Show More
Related
614 Words | 3 Pages

As Leopold moves along in A Sand County Almanac, the reader finally understands the full scale of thought that is placed in front of them. Leopold begins small in part I, he talks about this circle of life with animals and plants all playing a part and owning the land. Oak Trees end up showing the history of conservation, and wildlife comes from what others consider devastation of the land. Final we learn if mans ownership of land compared to those who also inhabitant it is more important. Bringing to light the question of progress or plants (for this purpose it is a generic term encompassing various flora and fauna)?

Read More
850 Words | 4 Pages

Herzog shows clips of Treadwell ranting in response to perceived intruders of his self-proclaimed “Grizzly Sanctuary” and displays Treadwell’s paranoia towards people who Timothy believed were threatening harm to his beloved bears and him. The director shows that Treadwell views himself as a savior and protector of the bears, which appeared to border on mania. Herzog uses other clips to reveal Treadwell’s state of mind, such as clips of Treadwell’s emotional overreaction to a bumblebee that he believed was dead, his clutching a childhood toy bear at his campsite, and his becoming euphoric at touching bear excrement that only moments before had been inside a beloved bear. Narrating one clip about Treadwell touching the detached paw of a mauled bear cub, Herzog gives his opinion about that event that had punctured Treadwell’s romantic fantasies about nature’s harmony by saying, “I believe the common denominator of the universe is not harmony, but chaos, hostility, and murder.” The video selections and narration from Herzog reveal to the audience Treadwell’s complex and unstable state of

Read More
1259 Words | 6 Pages

David Baron’s “The Beast in the Garden” primarily follows the life of Michael Sanders, a biologist working mainly in Boulder, Colorado. Michael’s mission throughout the story is the study and prediction of the dangers of urban cougars. Living in a city of staunch environmentalists, Michael’s attempts to sway public opinion is a daunting task. As it would seem, the majority of Boulder environmentalists value cougar’s lives over human lives. Michael Sanders is a middle aged biologist, originally from a small town in Tennessee.

Read More
755 Words | 4 Pages

Leopold states, “By its fall the tree attests the unity of the hodge-podge called history” (18). In part one and two of A Sand County Almanac history is implied throughout the essays. In part one the essay “Prairie Birthday” Leopold writes of the many wild flowers that grow every year. He says, “No man can heed all these anniversaries; no man can ignore all of them” (47). These plants have a history with this land.

Read More
599 Words | 3 Pages

When people isolate themselves from society they develop similar characteristics. In Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, Christopher McCandless, the main character graduates as a top student and makes the choice to give away all his money to charity as well as leaving behind his belongings instead of pursuing a career. He then travels out to Alaska, journaling his experience in the wildness and changes his name to Alex. In the movie Grizzly Man, Werner Herzog uses footage shot by Timothy himself to document what inspired him to live with the wild bears in Alaska. One of the bears Treadwell takes care of tragically kills him; his footage gives a stronger look at nature and its harsh realities.

Read More
1103 Words | 5 Pages

Aldo Leopold presents many ideas that make our minds turn at fast speeds with what’s happening to our land in the present day. These ideas he presents entangle themselves into our daily lives and daily reading. Gold Fame Citrus is just another one of those things that entangles itself within the ideas of Aldo Leopold. The more you read Leopold and let it sink in the better clarity you'll have given the scenes in Gold Fame Citrus; they take on a new life. Leopold’s agreeable and disagreeable ethics are intertwined within Claire Watkins novel, Gold Fame Citrus.

Read More
1282 Words | 6 Pages

Although documentaries are often presented and received as objective recordings of reality, directors use editing techniques to control what the audience feels and concludes, just like they do in other forms of film. In Grizzly Man, director Werner Herzog uses cuts and the order of sequences to borrow from the reality of found footage and develop his argument that Timothy Treadwell decided to live with the bears to create a new identity, but that he knowingly made a poor decision because nature is brutal. Throughout the documentary, Herzog effectively develops the idea that Treadwell felt like an outsider in human society and could connect better with bears. At the beginning, Herzog suggests that Treadwell sought “to leave the confinements

Read More
662 Words | 3 Pages

As documented in Grizzly Man, Timothy Treadwell believes himself to be the “guardian of the bears” and goes on an expedition to live like one of them, in hopes to become one of them. In reality, his ways are very radical and unorthodox, such as coming into close contact with bears or touching their feces. A local Native American was interviewed on his opinion of Treadwell’s efforts with the bears and said, “To me, it was the ultimate of disrespecting the bears and what the bear represents…I think he did more damage to the bears… If I look at it from my culture, Timothy Treadwell crossed a boundary.” (Herzog).

Read More
498 Words | 2 Pages

In the book, A Sound County Almanac, Aldo Leopold rejected the idea of a division between science and ethics in his understanding of land ethics. This argument proposes that ethics and ecology are intertwined as both must understand the other. Leopold's perspective of the land ethic takes on both ethical responsibilities and scientific insights. "Thinking Like a Mountain" describes how hunting wolves to extinction raises ecological consequences as this situation threatens the balance of the ecological ecosystem (Leopold 2020). Within “The Land Ethic,” Leopold emphasizes ecological knowledge as the importance of understanding nature and recognizing the responsibilities humans have towards it ethically.

Read More
311 Words | 2 Pages

As of today, in American society, culture has developed a preconceive construct, labeling nature. To many individuals, the wilderness is a destination or place, one can visit in order to view the last remaining spots on earth that are “pure.” These designated places have, therefore, not been infected by human civilization. In American culture, wilderness is seen as an experience where one can go out and hike through the mountains and families can go camping in order to experience what is is like to be “out in the wild.”

Read More
90 Words | 1 Pages

In his 1995 essay “The Trouble with Wilderness,” William Cronon declares that “the time has come to rethink wilderness” (69). From the practice of agriculture to masculine frontier fantasies, Cronon argues that Americans have historically defined wilderness as an “island,” separate from their polluted urban industrial homes (69). He traces the idea of wilderness throughout American history, asserting that the idea of untouched, pristine wilderness is a harmful fantasy. By idealizing wilderness from a distance, he argues that people justify the destruction of less sublime landscapes and aggravate environmental conflict.

Read More
744 Words | 3 Pages

Prior to watching the documentary, I expected more footage of Treadwell directly interacting with the Alaskan Kodiaks. Treadwell claimed that he wanted to spread knowledge and awareness about the bears to young viewers, but his footage mostly showed bears in the distance with Treadwell chiming in to further explain the behaviors exhibited on camera. Because of this camera footage, it felt as if the bears merely tolerated Treadwell’s presence in their native habitat. To me, it seemed like Treadwell mostly kept his distance from where the bears actively slept and hunted, and instead, only showed their interactions when he would just so happen to come across one or two out in the open. Much of his footage seemed to show him

Read More
915 Words | 4 Pages

The Alaskan Bush is one of the hardest places to survive without any assistance, supplies, skills, and little food. Jon Krakauer explains in his biography, Into The Wild, how Christopher McCandless ventured into the Alaskan Bush and ultimately perished due to lack of preparation and hubris. McCandless was an intelligent young man who made a few mistakes but overall Krakauer believed that McCandless was not an ignorant adrenalin junkie who had no respect for the land. Krakauer chose to write this biography because he too had the strong desire to discover and explore as he also ventured into the Alaskan Bush when he was a young man, but he survived unlike McCandless. Krakauer’s argument was convincing because he gives credible evidence that McCandless was not foolish like many critics say he was.

Read More
710 Words | 3 Pages

Grizzly Man is a documentary film released in 2005 and followed a bear activist named Timothy Treadwell, he decided that he wanted to live with bears in Alaska. For thirteen years, during the summer month, Treadwell camped in Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska. During this time he had to hide from the authorities, he was on a personal mission in order to better protect the population of grizzly bears. He believed the park service rangers were not doing their job well and it was his duty to go out into the wilderness. The film depicts the past by including the original footage from Treadwell, this is because he always had the movie camera with him.

Read More
817 Words | 4 Pages

Leopold suggests that there is a strong need for land ethic because he sees a lack of his beliefs among the rest of the human beings. In the long run Leopold realized that how wolves help creating a balance in the eco system and how the deer and other species were causing a lot of damage to their natural habitat. This is a perfect example of what happens when there is excessive safety, in the long run it only causes

Read More

More about A Sand County Almanac By Aldo Leopold

Related Topics

Open Document