Reading Reflection 3

 Part 1 of A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold is an account of one year in Wisconsin. His writing reminds me of Changes in the Land by William Cronon, but with the sensitivity of Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Leopold’s writing is gentle and ambient. It makes me want to go outside and sit there for hours while slowly taking in everything around me. It makes me want to leave my phone at home whenever I go somewhere. There were moments while reading where all of the magical outdoor places that feel important to me would pass through my mind: Waimanalo Beach on Oahu, Del Mar Heights Extension Trail in San Diego, and some of my favorite spots on campus in Colorado Springs. The way Leopold talks about animals is detailed and gentle. He describes their actions, habits, and intricacies. Specifically, when writing about the Sky Dance in April, he follows his observations with an equal amount of questions, reminding the audience that he is a visitor and just as present in the land as the creatures are. He writes, “It is fortunate, perhaps, that no matter how intently one studies the hundred little dramas of the woods and meadows, one can never learn all of the salient facts about any one of them” (31). He describes the nature around him as an interactive ecosystem/community, rather than resources for humans to use. His writing is neither ecocentric nor anthropocentric; it portrays both sides as equals. I believe this style of writing is productive in reinventing how humans think about nature. I think that if more people read literature like this, there would be more understanding about the urges to preserve nature and protect the climate because it shows that ecosystems are equally, if not more complex than the systems of human societies. I really enjoyed reading the August section where he compares the landscape to a painting, and the changing of the environment is like the paint being applied to the piece. Reading his descriptions of the changing of the seasons feels like listening to a song. Overall, I had a good time reading Part 1 of A Sand County Almanac and am excited to read the rest. I think literature like this is important and empowering, and I hope to seek out more books like this over the summer.