Monday, March 3, 2008

Lenten Post March 3rd

Anyone reading this will know that I'm a huge "fan" of Aldo Leopold. It was through his wisdom and writings that modern conservation and ideals about sustainability were developed. Yet a good number of non-science people don't know who he was. I've written a couple of pieces on his works and how they relate to religion and I'm giving a presentation on Leopold Theology later this month at the American Academy of Religion. From his most famous work, "A Sand County Almanac":

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.

This was written in the late '30's, published in the late '40's. In our world that has since become even more insulated from the land, from nature, from our sources of heat and food, this statement is even more profound. As fewer and fewer people have ties to the land it becomes more and more difficult to preserve its integrity, its wholeness.

More Leopold to come in the next couple of weeks.
Peace,
Jeff

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