Aldo Leopold

There is a quote among Aldo Leopold's piece, Game and Wildlife Conservation [1932], that really struck out at me. It said,

"I realize that every time I turn on an electric light, or ride on a Pullman, or pocket the unearned increment on a stock, or a bond, or a piece of real estate, I am 'selling out' to the enemies of conservation. When I submit these thoughts to a printing press, I am helping cut down the woods. When I pour cream in my coffee, I am helping to drain a marsh for cows to graze, and to exterminate the birds of Brazil. When I go birding or hunting in my Ford, I am devastating an oil field, and re-electing an imperialist to get me rubber. Nay more: when I father more than two children I am creating an insatiable need for more printing presses, more cows, more coffee, more oil, and more rubber, to supply which more birds, more trees, and more flowers will either be killed, or what is just as destructive, evicted from their several environments," (Leopold 451).

I realize this is a long quote, but it is worth mentioning. The last statement "evicted from their several environments" is true enough. Animals like deer are leaping across roads to get from one forested area to another, or are overpopulating an area because they can't go anywhere else, either thanks to humans building a town or city nearby, or roads being all around. Creatures like bears and coyotes, which are seen as dangerous creatures, are coming into contact with humans because their habitats have become smaller, thanks to human population, and they are looking for food. Sometimes these encounters end dangerously because a pet will be attacked. I don't know how likely it is for these animals to attack humans, but I won't discount it. Raccoons go through trash and are seen as pests, but again, they have been forced out of their natural habitat. They are trying to survive.

As for the rest of Leopold's quote, he wrote this piece in 1932. The damage may have been done then, but my guess is that it certainly has grown since. There are more people on the planet now than there were then, and so the demand for things like cream, coffee, paper, rubber, and oil are higher than they were before. That is especially true for rubber and oil, because there are more cars on the road than there were in the 1930s, and because cars today are more efficient than cars back then.

My question now is this: do others think that the destruction Leopold addressed back then has increased since? Why or why not?