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