That dark laboratory we call the soil.

All ethics so far evolved rest upon a single premise: that the individual is a member of a community of interdependent parts.

Is it possible to preserve the element of Unknown Places in our national life? Is it practicable to do so, without undue loss in economic values? I say 'yes' to both questions. But we must act vigorously and quickly, before the remaining bits of wilderness have disappeared.

It is inconceivable to me that an ethical relation to land can exist without love, respect, and admiration for land, and a high regard for its value. By value, I of course mean something far broader than mere economic value; I mean value in the philosophical sense.

Land health is the capacity for self-renewal in the soils, waters, plants, and animals that collectively comprise the land.

The first law of intelligent tinkering is to save all the parts

We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.