Whether it be Aldo Leopold with his practiced professionalism or Wendell Berry with his trial-and-error approach to conservative land use, the conservationist is defined by his devotion to proper land use, to exacting every possible advantage from the land without depleting it. This is the inevitable definition of conservationism implied by McPhee in Encounters with the Archdruid. Frankly, it is the only way to maintain the earth as it is today, capable of sustaining intelligent life.
We stand at the cusp of a new era in which man shapes the world around him as he never has before, to such a degree that nature can no longer impose its limits. Man, though, does not know where these limits used to lie, what they meant, or what he stands to lose. Long has he distinguished between the lives of his fellow men and the life of the world around him. We are reaching a point though, when they must be looked on as one and the same, when “if I cannot help, I will at least do no harm” must apply not only to man, but to the world around him. Else, we risk our own demise.
But nature does not care. She has birthed and lost far too many children to care for one so young and reckless as man. The Earth will live on and continue to be a beautiful place regardless of whether we live there. I have, however, grown rather partial to living.
Nicely written piece, Phil. I particularly like the line, “Man, though, does not know where these limits used to lie, what they meant, or what he stands to lose.” Could be applied to many topics, not just man’s relation to the natural world.