The Nature Principle

Aldo Leopold, the author of A Sand Country Almanac, is famous for his Land Ethic, which states that human ethics are directly tied with land ethics, and nature should be treated with the respect we would afford another human being. Louv participated in a land ethic conference at the Leopold Center, brainstorming with other environmentalists how to place this theory into practice.

Louv uses the terms “environmentalist” and “conservationist” with caution, as they have taken on specific meanings such as conservativism, hunters, or tree cutting. Political discourse has made many wary of using this vocabulary: “Our language has not kept pace with the changing realities of the human relationship with nature” (254). Louv argues that semantics are not helping the fight for nature preservation. We are slowly moving towards positive linguistics, but this will not happen completely until we understand that we are nature. This new vocabulary and the nature movement has started but needs to continue to create lasting cultural change. With business, policy makers, developers, government policy, foundations and civic groups having a large role in cultural change, Louv discusses a “Third Ring” of change makers: individuals, communities and social networks. From family hiking groups to natural teachers, this grassroots effort will make change from the bottom up, as well as the top-down.

Louv asks the question, “Is a walk in the woods a human right?” This question gets to the basis of Louv’s idea that nature is a part of us, and it is our born right to grow up in an environment that cultivates this reciprocal relationship.

Louv suggests that we should nurture the deeper connection we hold with nature: mental, spiritual, emotional, and physical and increase scientific study. If we don’t create a successful movement to reunite nature and humans, both will suffer the consequences. This chapter is Louv’s call to action, his plead with the reader that action is immediately necessary. 

Humans have been destroying the earth for generations, via mountaintop removal, logging, and climate change. Often the ways that businesses are required to fix damage doesn’t bring the environment back to its original state, which calls for a new business ethic. Agriculture is a deep part of our survival and new, ecofriendly farming practices are emerging, practices that don’t strip the land and that help communities to stay connected to food, land, and humanity.

Louv shares the story of a watershed and riverbed restoration specialist, Corey Sue. Sue’s work emphasizes sustainability, a connectedness with nature, and purposeful living (280). Finding and sustaining purposeful living might come about by offering careers that help connect people with nature. If higher education worked with this as a goal, the emerging youth would have a support system to find a nature-connected career. Our youth need to be privy to possible positive advances rather than an end of times call to action: “My contention throughout this book is that reconnecting to nature is one key to growing a larger environmental movement” (284), a movement that all generations need to be a part of. 

Returning to an alpine lake cabin in the high-desert mountains, Louv and his wife Kathy reminisce about their life while hiking with the wildlife. They have both lived a life that made excuses for not going outside more often, “Even with the knowledge of the benefits of the natural world, our long-established life patterns sometimes get the better of us” (288).