Rediscovering and rethinking Leopold's Green Fire

Abstract

Lecture given at Utah Valley University, April 4, 2013. Aldo Leopold shot a wolf a hundred years ago, the most iconic wolf kill in conservation history, a shooting now historically confirmed, which after three decades he elevated into his green fire metaphor and symbol. There are tensions. Was Leopold a hypocrite? He spent the rest of his life hunting and trying to produce more game to kill. Thinking like a mountain, thinking big in the big outdoors, there is a dramatic shift of focus from a dying wolf's eyes to a land ethic. Thinking big enough, globally, Leopold's saving wolves, or wilderness, or game management seems simplistic and parochial before global warming or environmental justice. Still, Leopold is on a moral frontier.