Lori Horbas on Aldo Leopold, 'Land Ethic'

Decades before environmentalism emerged as a leading social issue, wilderness preservationist Aldo Leopold was professing his "land ethic" philosophy that encouraged the public to live in harmony with the physical world through greater reverence toward the land. Leopold's innovative ideals of eco-protection and wildlife management set the stage for the modern Green Movement and were famously recorded in his 1949 A Sand County Almanac. Through this collection of nature essays, Leopold informed people of how the natural world worked and inspired garden-variety men and women to take action based on the concept of environmental ethics.

A Sand County Almanac has been called the most influential book on conservation. This week Milwaukee's Lori Horbas will facilitate a discussion on Leopold's "A Land Ethic," the concluding essay in his 1949 best seller. Horbas, a former columnist on topics of food and sustainability for Outpost Natural Foods' Exchange Magazine, recently attended the Land Ethic Leaders training program at the Aldo Leopold Center in Baraboo, Wis. This program, which plants seeds of thought in ordinary citizens as to fresh approaches for dealing with today's critical ecological issues, creates opportunities for intimate discussions about human relationships to the land. The discussions are not structured in finding solutions to specific challenges, but rather are focused on developing a personal land ethic. Horbas will share insights about complex environmental issues and encourage individuals to explore and understand their beliefs on land and animal sustentation when she visits Boswell Book Co. on Saturday, March 5, at 7 p.m.