A Sand County Almanac, by Aldo Leopold is and environmental handbook on how people should view and treat the environment as well as how people actually interact with the environment. Leopold takes the reader through his own experiences on the land and by doing so instills the idea of awareness in the mind of the reader. Leopold wrote, "A March morning is only as drab as he who walks in it without a glance skyward, ear cocked for geese" (pg. 18). Aldo Leopold had many things in mind while writing A Sand County Almanac; Along with the hope that society could become aware of the environment, Aldo Leopold also hoped that this awareness would one day bring about a land ethic. .
The basis of Leopold's book revolves around several ideas, one is on the premise that nature is in a balance. "Its functioning depends on the co-operation and competition of its diverse parts" (pg. 215). This is a fact that many people already hold to be true; however, Leopold writes in great detail just how intertwined every organism is. In addition to pointing out the "balance of nature", Aldo Leopold also stresses the importance and lack of environmental awareness. The following passage I found to be on of Leopold's most poignant examples: "The Highway Department says that 100,000 cars pass yearly over this route during the three summer months when the Silphium is in bloom. In them must ride at least 100,000 people who have taken what is called history, and perhaps 25,000 who have taken what is called botany. Yet I doubt whether a dozen have seen the Silphium, and of these hardly one will notice its demise" (pg. 46). This point and the detail in which he described it I found fascinating. It is all to true that most people are unaware of the environment. I am in an Environmental History class and by most estimations am unaware of the environment around men. I notice what captures the eye; however, I am unaware of why that exists or how it affects other organisms.
