Chapter 1: Discussion of Listening to Earth

John Muir, Mary Austin, Aldo Leopold, Margaret L. Knox, and Barry Lopez have all written their own views on the value of land.

Muir believed that all of nature belonged to God. Austin who was a feminist loved how nature could grow wild. Leopold was a man who loved animals and he restored a prairie in Wisconsin to its original condition without human contact. Knox is just a regular journalist doing her job concerning the environment and decides to write most of her stories about the federal government that likes to purchase all of the land. Lopez believes that people cannot own the land, the land belongs to Earth.

All five of these authors have a closeness to the environment that they love to express through their writing. If they were to see what has happened with our Earth today, I don’t think any one of them would be very happy.

If Muir’s belief was that nature belonged to God, he would hate all the construction that is being planned on the barrier beaches in Navarre and Pensacola Beach. Leopold would feel the same way as Muir because he loved all the animals and with all this building it would destroy some animals’ habitats.

I feel the same way as these authors. Even if I’m not a treehugger, I do love animals and I would hate for them to lose their homes. The county is going to be doing all this building but do they really need these new industrial buildings.