Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Lenten Post March 13th

Aldo Leopold states in "The Farmer as a Conservationist" (1939) that:

"The landscape of any farm is the owner's portrait of himself. Conservation implies self-expression in that landscape, rather than blind compliance with economic dogma."

I would argue that the landscape is also a portrait of society. Silt filled rivers, ditches filled with topsoil, exposed black prairie soil as far as one can see, waterways filled with algae, a "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico, and tropics freed of native plant growth would seem to be the portrait we are currently painting for ourselves. I think it's time for a new canvas.

Peace,
Jeff

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