The Whole Conflict Thus Boils Down To

Ethical Behavior Is Doing The Right Thing When No One Else Is Watching- Even When Doing The Wrong Thing Is Legal.

The Last Word In Ignorance Is The Man Who Says Of An Animal Or Plant: 'what Good Is It?

There Is Yet No Ethic Dealing With Man's Relation To Land And To The Animals And Plants Which Grow Upon It. Land, Like Odysseus' Slave-girls, Is Still Property. The Land-relation Is Still Strictly Economic, Entailing Privileges But Not Obligations.

He Who Hopes For Spring With Upturned Eye Never Sees So Small A Thing As Draba. He Who Despairs Of Spring With Downcast Eye Steps On It, Unknowing. He Who Searches For Spring With His Knees In The Mud Finds It, In Abundance.

A Land Ethic...reflects The Existence Of An Ecological Conscience, And This In Turn Reflects A Conviction Of Individual Responsibility For The Health Of The Land. Health Is The Capacity Of The Land For Self-renewal. Conservation Is Our Effort To Understand And Preserve This Capacity.