Small cogs and wheels

The first two parts of a Sand County Almanac displayed the beauty and glory wild country. Aldo nostalgically describes his past nature adventures when the country wasn’t abused or used purely for economic gain. Part III discusses what we have done wrong to nature and unfortunately are still doing wrong to this day. Aldo eludes to that fact that we have done irreversible damage. He talks about “clean” farming, altering river systems, extinction of species, and many other practices that humans part take in that are selfish. We save only the “pretty” species and don’t consider whole ecosystems. There are no real social repercussions for our actions because we all inevitably part take in the destruction of land. I don’t know if as a species we will ever get the point. Is it the nature of humans to take from the land to the point of depletion? What if a squirrel was a human? Do squirrels hide and consume every nut they come across or do they allow some nuts to grow into trees?

The Sandhill Crane migrated to Alaska the same time I did!

Aldo presents the underlying theme that education system is flawed and that curricula do not result in students that are conscientious of their earth. It seems that Aldo thinks it is more important for nature to be the open forum for students rather than universities and schools. He talks about how we learn to dissect dead animals but learn nothing about what is living and breathing outside of the lab window. He compares professors to musicians and that they learn only one instrument. This is true that scientists can be extremely specialized and I think that it is essential for more collaboration across disciplines. How can we study the distribution of tree species without taking into consideration the microorganisms in the soil or the bird that disperses its seeds? As Aldo states, we need all the “small cogs and wheels” to see whole pictures.

Part IV attempts to mold the mind of readers and discusses new ways of thinking that will conserve the land. We must first learn mechanics of the land, and then we might appreciate and conserve it. I think it would be helpful if education started at a young age with learning everything outside that is around us. I am hopeful that the ethics of humans will slowly change. Unfortunately I think this might only happen as we see more and more habitat destructions and extinctions. Will we ever learn that our current way of living needs an immediate drastic change? Or will we just “have a good cry” and repeat our performance?