My Ethical Relationship to the Land

  My ethical relationship to the land stems from consistent interaction with it.  As an archaeologist, a lot of the work I do involves surveying in areas that have little to no permanent human impact.  Yet.  I feel incredibly lucky to stand on a precipice and look out and see nothing but the land, and indescribably sad knowing that the purpose of our survey is so that construction of some kind can occur.  There is a certain peace, and at the same time an energizing sense of being truly grounded when confronted with mountains unblemished by road, pipeline, or building.  I have never been able to recreate that feeling back home in the ever expanding metropolis.  The land truly can speak to the soul.

  Because of this work, I have become more conscious of what I can do as an individual to minimize my impact on the land.  If nothing else, the miles I’ve hiked have shown me how truly finite our natural earth is.  As a result it becomes easier to understand how every recyclable item thrown away, every car driven solo, and every house light left on takes away from the little we have left.  The craziest part, I find, is that while many have come to understand our impact on the planet, few get out to truly experience its wonders.

  All of the technology we’ve become used to numbs us to the point of ambivalence.  Why go out for a hike when I can watch a movie set in the rain forest?  Why play a sport when I can play a video game version of that sport right from my recliner?  In “An Ethic of the Earth” Momaday says, “… we have suffered a kind of psychic dislocation of ourselves in time and space.”  I believe this to be an important truth, especially within the last couple of generations.  Our virtual world has become almost limitless and our culture thrives within it, shutting out the quietly amazing planet that surrounds us.

  The moments in my life where I have been most at peace have been when I am completely surrounded by nature.  I believe the world would be a healthier, happier place if more people sought to discover what the land can offer them and, in turn, find meaning behind what they can offer it.

Jenean Roberts

Ethical relationship to land

We as human beings do not have a historically ethical relationship to the land. Ever since the industrial age we have been living an unbelievably unsustainable lifestyle. We take extreme amounts from the land, pollute it, destroy it's habitats, decimate its biodiversity, and for the most part we don't directly pay the land back for what we take and what we destroy. We as humans will eventually pay for everything we have done when resources are scarce, water and fresh food is a commodity, temperatures have shifted, ice caps have melted, and much more severe, unpredictable consequences.
An ethical relationship with land for me would be one where I do everything in my power to hurt the earth as little as possible. I try to limit the amount of water I use, recycle when possible, reuse as much as possible, and limit electricity usage. When in the wilderness I'm sure to leave no trace, take all trash out with me, stay on the paths and keep the wilderness as unchanged as possible. We should not take more from the earth than that which can be replenished. We should be sure to respect the earth, its our home, and it should be treated like that. For too long have we taken the earth for granted and selfishly used it to benefit us without any regard for its wellbeing.
The earth has given us life, without it, we would have no food, no place to live, no materials, we would not be alive. For all the earth has given us, we should be behave towards the earth in a way like we would treat our own mother, our own mother earth.

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

Ethical Relationship to Land

It is easy to go through everyday life with only a half-remembered acknowledgement of the surrounding nature and the land on which we live. We grow comfortable confined within the walls of schools, stores, and homes and forget that there is still a planet turning beneath us. However, without a steady recognition of land, the existence of humans and the many comforts we seek could easily be lost. To me, an ethical relationship to land must stem from an appreciation of it.

To appreciate the Earth, I believe we must admit that we are products of it, and not the other way around (as our egocentric tendencies might suggest). Instead of consuming all that we can, a more practical outlook would be mutually beneficial to the land and us. When hunting, Native Americans used every part of the animal that they could so as to ensure as little waste as possible.  While having no waste is unrealistic, cutting back on the waste we each personally produce and refuting the luxury of extreme selectivity in our lifestyles would be a great step towards developing a healthier relationship with land. The past century has seen massive technological advances that have allowed the human race to expand on almost every front, and yet such expansion is utterly ridiculous and unnecessary. One hundred years ago, I might have told the people of the world to attempt to give back to the land as much as they take. Now in 2015 the balance is skewed enough that we must focus not on taking, but rather giving all that we can while utilizing clean and renewable energy and resources. A personal ethical relationship with land is vital to our continued existence and spiritual sanity. The Earth will end us long before we end it, and we must acknowledge where the power lies if we wish to remain a part of the land.

An Ethical Relationship to Land

An ethical relationship to land is one of balance. Although we have established certain conservation efforts already like the EPA, national parks and so on, we are a long way from achieving a balance with the land. Over consumption, pollution, deforestation, habitat loss at the hands of human activity and other atrocities seems to define our relationship with the land at this point in time. It would be naive to think man could perfectly preserve the Earth- our presence is painfully obvious- but a balance between human activity, conservation and preservation exists. What that symbiotic relationship looks like is hard to say. A certain level of resources will always be necessary to sustain our basic human needs like food, shelter and water. Fortunately, these resources mostly replenish themselves. The goal should be to consume at a rate that does not outpace replenishment. Too many people have grown too attached to material comforts- myself included- that they tend to forget the impact these materials have.

On another note, man does not only rely on the land for survival needs but also for spiritual purposes. As N. Scott Momaday describes in An Ethic of the Earth, an ethical relationship to the land derives from our spiritual connection with Mother Nature. Our spiritual connection with the Earth serves as the foundation for an ethical relationship to the land. Momaday believes people have lost this connection: “Most of us have developed an attitude of indifference toward the land.”  This indifferent attitude is dangerous and is not part of an ethical relationship to the land. Achieving a proper balance with the Earth is an active process and not something that happens on its own. We have to properly conserve resources and preserve the beauty of the land so that future generations can enjoy the Earth to its fullest.

Ethical Relationship with Land

In modern society, land is often seen as something we can build structures on to improve the technological world that we live in. People get caught up in the fast pace of life that it is difficult to take a step back and appreciate the land that gives us everything we have today. Nature is beautiful. One of the most peaceful things to me is lying in the sand and listening to the waves. Often times, I am at a resort and am thankful to be at the resort. It is difficult to remember that the land is providing me with the peaceful feeling of being on a beach, not the structure behind me. However, as I bring more awareness to the sound of the ocean and the feeling of the sun it is apparent that the natural land is providing me with more positivity and calmness than any artificial object ever could.

            Along with land being a natural beauty, it also provides us with so much more. Humans need nutrients to survive and all of those nutrients come from the land.  Before food factories and the start of processed and unnatural food, mankind lived off of the land. It amazes me when I go on a hike and come across many plants with different wild berries that one can just pick off the bush or tree, eat, and get a lot of nutrients from it. As someone who grew up on a berry farm, I was able to see the fruits grow from the beginning to end and then had the pleasure of eating them.  The natural process of fruits and vegetables growing on the earth is something I have a passion for and appreciate the land because of it.  The relationship I’ve developed with land through experiencing it produce all different fruits has taught me to make an extra effort to preserve the land because it provides us with natural beauty and nutrients that keep us alive and happy.

My Ethical Relationship with Land

To me, and ethical relationship to land consists of many things.  The first and most important part is respect for land.  I am respectful to the fragility, dangers, and fruit of the land, but more importantly I respect the land like an elder.  The land has been around far longer then I have, and so I respect my place in terms of the land.  For instance I could hike every inch of the Flatirons, or the entire Colorado Rockies for that matter, but just because I can climb up the mountain doesn't mean I have any power over it.  Because whatever power or strength I demonstrate by climbing those mountains wouldn't exist without the mountains themselves giving me the opportunity to show my power or strength.  Just like an elder sets the foundation for the next generation to build, the land sets the foundation of all human potential.  Where would we be as a civilization or even a species for that matter if we didn't have the natural resources we have used since the dawn of humanity?   Yet instead of giving praise to the land we as humans have ignored its cries, and so instead of living symbiotically we live one sided, only caring about how the land can help us and not the opposite way around.  Along with respect, an ethical relationship with land relies on sharing. We have been taking from the land for so long that we have forgotten to pay for it, which is considered stealing among humans.  When animals take grass from the land they give back by fertilizing it.  Whereas humans take the minerals and fuels from the land just pollutes the byproduct of our industrialization into the air and seas that we live with.  For me, sharing with the land would mean sharing our knowledge and skills, rather than destroying forests and walking away we should plant new trees and provide new ways for the destroyed ecosystem to thrive.  Another part of an ethical relationship is sympathy.  The land may not be alive but that doesn't mean it cant feel.  This Earth is so large and vast and has seen so much change over the course of its existence.  Now we as humans are rapidly altering the course of nature and if we aren't going to do something about it then the least we could do is feel for it.  This land is as much a person as you and me, and just because it can’t speak up doesn’t mean it deserves to be ignored.