Quote by Aldo Leopold

One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds. Much of the damage inflicted on land is quite invisible to laymen. An ecologist must either harden his shell and make believe that the consequences of science are none of his business, or he must be the doctor who sees the marks of death in a community that believes itself well and does not want to be told otherwise.

One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one

Summary

This quote by Aldo Leopold highlights the difficult reality faced by those who possess an ecological education. It suggests that being aware of ecological issues creates a sense of personal isolation and empathy towards the wounds inflicted upon the environment. While the damage may remain invisible to the general public, an ecologist is tasked with deciding between detachment and denying the implications of their knowledge, or assuming the role of a doctor who recognizes the signs of a deteriorating ecosystem in a society that prefers to remain blind to it.

Topics

Nature Science Inspirational

By Aldo Leopold

Liked the quote? Share it with your friends.

Random Quotations

Ulysses was an elaborate prank, and our supposed intellectua

Ulysses was an elaborate prank, and our supposed intellectual elite continue to fall for it.

Orson Scott Card

Let a man get up and say, Behold, this is the truth, and ins

Let a man get up and say, Behold, this is the truth, and instantly I perceive a sandy cat filching a piece of fish in the background. Look, you have forgotten the cat, I say.

When future archaeologists dig up the remains of California,

When future archaeologists dig up the remains of California, they're going to find all of those gyms their scary-looking gym equipment, and they're going to assume that we were a culture obsessed with torture.

Separation penetrates the disappearing person like a pigment

Separation penetrates the disappearing person like a pigment and steeps him in gentle radiance.

Walter Benjamin

Alcohol is the cause and the solution to many of life's prob

Alcohol is the cause and the solution to many of life's problems.

Dan Castellaneta

Life Humor Funny Drinking Alcohol Solution

We're going to raise a lot of money for cancer awareness, gi

We're going to raise a lot of money for cancer awareness, give some to the American Cancer Society and hopefully make a big difference.

To say yes, you have to sweat and roll up your sleeves and p

To say yes, you have to sweat and roll up your sleeves and plunge both hands into life up to the elbows. It's easy to say no, even if it means dying.

Every time I appoint someone to a vacant position, I make a

Every time I appoint someone to a vacant position, I make a hundred unhappy and one ungrateful.

If a politician murders his mother, the first response of th

If a politician murders his mother, the first response of the press or of his opponents will likely be not that it was a terrible thing to do, but rather that in a statement made six years before he had gone on record as being opposed to matricide.

Avoid having your ego so close to your position that when yo

Avoid having your ego so close to your position that when your position falls, your ego goes with it.

A light wind swept over the corn, and all nature laughed in

A light wind swept over the corn, and all nature laughed in the sunshine.

I traveled among unknown men, in lands beyond the sea; nor E

I traveled among unknown men, in lands beyond the sea; nor England! did I know till then what love I bore to thee.

William Wordsworth