Chapter by Chapter – A Sand County Almanac: And Sketches Here and There (Part 1)

Also found on my blog here - enviroandphilosophy.politics.blog/2019/02/21/chapter-by-chapter-a-sand-county-almanac-and-sketches-here-and-there-part-1/

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Introduction

Aldo Leopold remains a key figure in environmental philosophy, first for his famous essay which forms one of the last chapters of the book called ‘The Land Ethic’, but also because of his poetic and literary style. ‘A Sand County Almanac: And Sketches Here and There’ represents a complete collection of the philosophy of Aldo Leopold as he guides the reader through his own life lessons and the lessons of nature which led him to write this book. It is a book with layers of meaning and metaphor which is still in many ways ahead of its time in terms of its treatment of environmental issues as well as our societal attitudes towards nature. The book itself is divided into three parts, each of which serves a specific purpose in the overarching theme of the book which seeks first to make the reader fall in love with the landscape, before introducing the reader to the harsh realities that the impact of modern society and modern sensibilities have had on the landscape, and a need to remediate our attitudes and values towards the natural world.

‘Part 1’ provides a month by month account of Leopold’s time on his farm in Wisconsin, conveying the lessons of history and nature as he works the land to support his family. The poetry and imagery are probably the most remarkable features of these essays as he seeks to engage the reader not in his work, but in the landscapes, animals and images it describes. Each beauty of each essay is however offered with layers of meaning and metaphor that serves a point to the sometimes-harsh realities of nature. There are deeper meanings at play in each essay, and each represents an important lesson from nature that modern society all too easily forgets. ‘Part 2’ recounts some of Leopold’s life lessons, one of which includes his famous essay ‘Think Life a Mountain’ where Leopold recounts the shooting of a Gray wolf and the passion it ignites in him for conservation. The imagery and poetry are no less beautiful then in ‘Part 1’ but this section appears to take aim less at the beauty of nature and more at the shortcomings of modern society and sensibilities especially towards nature. Many of the lessons and points found in these essays are worthy of deep contemplation and deliberation. The middle section of this book is almost an elegy to all that has already been lost, and is a section filled with mournful sorrow aimed at igniting a sense of passion towards the notion of conservation. ‘Part 3’ is much more matter of fact and much more formal. The beautiful literary imagery makes way for a more academic style of essay which recounts these lessons learnt into a series of informative and powerful papers which have resonated in environmental circles ever since. Once again, the books themes are not lost as he takes aim at how we interact with nature as well as the dangers of what may be lost to modernity if we are not careful and do not take care to change the way we look at the natural world. The over arching theme of this part is of ‘worldview remediation’ to try to change the way modern society looks at nature, and to change our relationship with it so that we might better position ourselves to conserve it in the long term.

We will now go part by part, essay by essay, lesson by lesson through this book to uncover all its layers of meanings and decipher its many metaphors to find each lesson to be learnt, all while relishing what really is a literary masterpiece. I hope you enjoy this journey as much as I have in writing about it, and take the time to contemplate it’s many meanings and overarching themes in your own lives.

‘Part 1’

January – ‘January Thaw’ (p.3-5)

The book begins with a vivid scene on a cool January morning of Leopold finding a skunk track in the thawing snow. The essay retells his tracking of the skunk, and the imagery of the morning. It does seem as though this chapter is quite a shallow one on face value, but if one digs a little deeper it is an honest telling of nature. A story of predator and prey, of the delight and excitement of the animals that awaken to the thaw only to find themselves hunted. He tells of the mouse whose tunnels had been damaged in the thaw: “some worried mouse-engineer who could not wait until night to inspect the damage.” As a hawk swoops to claim his morning meal.

It is not meant to be a telling of nature as a cruel or kind master, rather that nature is a master that gives and takes and is always to be respected because at a moment’s notice she can take away everything she has bestowed. Moreover, nature it is a about the many stories that occur in the wild simultaneously, over which nature holds no blame or care of innocence or guilt, but which simply was, is and always will be. It is perhaps one of the strengths of Leopold that he can bring a sobering account of nature through is academic and the scientific training – that he can recount such imagery with a sense of aesthetic delight, and yet offer an important insight into the realities of wild nature. The scene ends as he tracks the skunk to a pile of driftwood where the trail disappears, and he speculates that the skunk has romantic intentions as spring approaches.

February – ‘Good Oak’ (p.6-18)

The second essay is a multi-layered one which recounts with as sense of reverence and respect for nature once more as he laments the story of an old oak tree, cut for firewood the year before after a lightning strike. This essay is as much about thanking the tree as it keeps his shins warm in a blizzard, as it is recounting the timelessness of nature. It is in a way an elegy, a retelling of the trees 70-80 years of life and the world that had changes so much around it – yet there is no moral lesson at play in the levelling and burning of the oak tree. This essay is on its surface the retelling of the history of local conservation and political action on such matters around the history of the tree. A decade by decade retelling of political and social attitudes towards the local ecosystem.

A deeper reading it of nature as an eternal observer that watches with indifference humanities ignorance, stumbling through its relationship with nature like a toddler learning to walk for the first time. As we humans stumble from decade to decade with the extinction on numerous local species and the implementation of barely effectual legislation, the tree remains and just is as though it is a metaphor for the whole of nature. Playing its part as a home for birds and animals overlooking the Wisconsin river and the surrounding area, indifferent to the loss of life from the ignorance and carelessness, arrogance and overall hubris of modern humans. Once again, a deeper lesson to be found beneath to beautiful imagery of the saw as it carves its way through the oak’s growth rings. All the while a sense of respect and thankfulness to the ‘good oak’ for warming Leopold’s shins in the blistering cold February blizzard.