Since the mass inclusion of technology into our everyday lives, we as a society have become increasingly unaware of how greatly we affect the land we live on. In "An Ethic of the Earth," Mommday explains how we as a culture have become extremely unaware of our relation to the Earth as a whole, along with how Americans have developed an "attitude of indifference" towards the Earth and it's resources. After reading this article, I found that my views are similar to Mommaday's own environmentally ethical relationship to land. Humanity as a whole must make more of a conscious effort to preserve our environment and although our dependence on it's abundance of uses makes this difficult, it is important for our present and future.

            Everyone and everything has an impact on the Earth due to our consumption of nature's finite products and services, and by controlling the amount of natural resources we use and output we create, one can reduce their ecological footprint. Our global economy has created an ecological imbalance so I also agree that a balance between society and nature must be restored, but by finding the right lifestyle and reducing consumption rather than replacing fossil fuels with other non sustainable sources, solutions can be made in order to power the same systems.

            To me, an ethical relationship to land is extremely important and us a human race are obligated to and have certain responsibilities to the natural world along with all forms of life that coexist on it. The Earth supplies us with so much and our culture, including myself, has forgotten to appreciate, protect and sustain it's resources. We also have lost our sense of who and what we are with respect to our land and as Mommady states, without respectful ethical regard for your relationship with Earth, "we shall not live at all."

Allison Stahlman