ABOUT THIS BOOK

A contemporary defense of conservationist Aldo Leopold’s vision for human interaction with the environment.

Informed by his experiences as a hunter, forester, wildlife manager, ecologist, conservationist, and professor, Aldo Leopold developed a view he called the land ethic. In a classic essay, published posthumously in A Sand County Almanac, Leopold advocated for an expansion of our ethical obligations beyond the purely human to include what he variously termed the “land community” or the “biotic community”—communities of interdependent humans, nonhuman animals, plants, soils, and waters, understood collectively. This philosophy has been extremely influential in environmental ethics as well as conservation biology and related fields.

Using an approach grounded in environmental ethics and the history and philosophy of science, Roberta L. Millstein reexamines Leopold’s land ethic in light of contemporary ecology. Despite the enormous influence of the land ethic, it has sometimes been dismissed as either empirically out of date or ethically flawed. Millstein argues that these dismissals are based on problematic readings of Leopold’s ideas. In this book, she provides new interpretations of the central concepts underlying the land ethic: interdependence, land community, and land health. She also offers a fresh take on of his argument for extending our ethics to include land communities as well as Leopold-inspired guidelines for how the land ethic can steer conservation and restoration policy.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Roberta L. Millstein is professor emerita in the Department of Philosophy at the University of California, Davis.

REVIEWS

“‘What’s good is what’s good for the land.’ This formulation of Leopold’s packs so much into a single phrase. Millstein meditates on some of the aspects of that mighty slogan that are most pertinent to our time: the necessity of connection and care among all living beings, including the soil that sustains us, the return of the commons, and the power of community to resist extraction and create a civilization for the long haul. Millstein has actively engaged in local political struggles with significant success, and here she conveys some of her hard-won wisdom. This is a book that can be put to use. Leopold would like that.”

— Kim Stanley Robinson, author of The High Sierra: A Love Story

“As a philosopher of biology, Millstein brings a distinctive and valuable perspective to the interpretation of Aldo Leopold. Peppered with careful analysis of key concepts, The Land Is Our Community explores and defends the enduring relevance of Leopold’s land ethic.”

— Marion Hourdequin, author of Environmental Ethics: From Theory to Practice

“In his influential 1949 essay ‘The Land Ethic,’ Aldo Leopold shared his view that a thorough philosophical reorientation was needed to ensure a healthy future for land and people. He also held that such an ethic of care had to evolve continually within an expansive ‘thinking community.’ In The Land is Our Community, Millstein brings fresh perspectives and ideas to this necessary conversation. She offers a clear-eyed reexamination of the foundations of the land ethic and well-grounded principles for its further evolution.”

— Curt Meine, author of Aldo Leopold: His Life and Work

TABLE OF CONTENTS