A Sand County Almanac Essay

Alison Wall

ESRM 100

5/15/17

A Sand County Almanac “A Sand County Almanac” by Aldo Leopold has been an incredibly influential book in the environmental conservation field since it was published in 1949. Unlike other books in this field, it hasn’t become outdated because its message continues to be important in understanding how crucial taking care of our environment is. Not only does this book inspire others to take responsibility on how to treat our world, but it educates readers on how our natural world works. While many similar books use other, more scientific, styles of writing, Leopold wrote “A Sand County Almanac” in an almost poetic form so the reader continues to be engaged while learning important concepts. While many writers of

Throughout the book, Leopold suggests that conservation is a collective effort, not just a job for a specialist, but for everyone. In the second chapter, entitled “February”, he writes “There are two spiritual dangers in not owning a farm. One is the danger of supposing that breakfast comes from the grocery, and the other that heat comes from the furnace.” (Leopold, 6). This quote stood out to me immediately because he is highlighting the idea that if you don’t own a farm or become aware of where everything comes from, it is very easy to forget to care for the world we live

As I said above, even since this book was written, the average person’s ecological knowledge is still about the same, and it makes me wonder why. While scientific research continues to prove that we are doing more harm to our planet than good, innovation in technology causes people to be lazy and not think of what affects our actions may have on our ecosystem. As we grow as a society, more lifestyles become available and the easier it gets to completely ignore the damages we do to the natural world. We become less in contact with nature, and therefore forget about caring for it often. This book continues to provide relevant and useful information that our society needs to