Cultivating an Ecological Conscience: Essays from a Farmer Philosopher

Resolving Conflicts in American Land-Use Values: How Organic Farming Can Help

248 Resolving Conflicts in American Land-Use Values How Organic Farming Can Help Why do Americans, and especially American farmers, use (or abuse) the land the way we do? I assume land is used in accordance with a set of values, expectations, and perceptions developed over time. That may seem so obvious that it appears trivial, but it is an important point. All too often we approach land-conservation issues through the concept of “good guys” versus “bad guys.” The “good guys” plant trees, install grass waterways, strip crop, and use no-till farming. They do everything possible to keep their soil from being exposed to erosion. The “bad guys,” conversely, bulldoze trees, rip up wetlands, cultivate whole quarter-sections as a single field, fall plow, and appear insensitive to eroding soils. Accordingly, the task of land conservation is reduced to converting, cajoling, or coercing the “bad guys” into complying with the conservation practices of the “good guys.” This is a simplistic and incorrect analysis of the problem and perhaps one of the reasons why our solutions are often ineffective. In America we have developed a philosophy of land use that contains conflicting values. I think that understanding the tension caused by those conflicting values will help explain why some try to preserve the land while others abuse it. Prosperity vs. Virtue People of European descent who came to this country were caught up in a “dream of destiny.” They believed that they came to these shores because they were especially called and chosen by God to build a new “kingdom of God on earth.” In The Lively Experiment, Sidney Mead demonstrated This is an edited version of a paper published in the American Journal of Alternative Agriculture 3 (1988): 43–47. 249 Resolving Conflicts in American Land-Use Values how this sense of destiny among Americans is rooted in the early Puritan theocracy.1 But this mandate had two prongs. On the one hand, early settlers considered it their destiny to clear the land, tame the wilderness, and make the land productive. Breaking up the prairie and planting nice, neat rows of corn was a moral obligation and one of the reasons God had placed them here. The extent to which they “progressed” in this way was, in fact, considered a “sign” that they were fulfilling their destiny. The Native Americans who had refused to “improve” the land were considered “lazy” and therefore not deserving of the land they inhabited.2 This set of values, expectations, and perceptions about land use is deeply embedded in our history, and we have all inherited it. We feel morally obligated to make the land as productive as possible, to “prosper” on it, to make it yield its maximum potential. On the other hand, early settlers also regarded it as their destiny to preserve and protect the land. This land was, after all, a gift from God, entrusted to them as a place of freedom: to worship God, develop moral character, and fabricate a body politic that resembled the kingdom of God. Thus, preserving, protecting, and safeguarding the land was seen as a moral obligation and as another of the reasons why God had placed them here. The extent to which they preserved the land as a heritage and as a place to pursue the virtuous life was a “sign” that they were fulfilling their destiny. This second set of values, expectations, and perceptions of land use are equally embedded in our history, making us feel morally obligated to preserve and protect the land for future generations. These two facets of our destiny spawned philosophies of land use about which honest, responsible people could disagree. In fact, these historical circumstances have created conflicting feelings about land use within most of us. Consequently, whenever economic needs and the desire to prosper appear crucial, we make fragile land available for logging or crop production and relax restrictions that preserve and protect the land. Whenever the need to preserve our heritage for the future appears crucial, we restrict the mining of our natural resources and intensify measures to protect and preserve the land. But the interesting thing is that whenever conflicts over land use arise, each side tends to regard the other side as immoral. Land developers who level trees and create perfect green lawns regard environmentalists who interfere with their creation as meddling obstructionists. Environmental- 250 Cultivating an Ecological Conscience ists who try...