AWARD WINNERS - 2019 Aldo Leopold Writing Contest
Click on photo to read the winning essays. Scroll down the page to view the 2019 Contest Guidelines.
BEST ESSAY, GRADES 6-8
ADYA RADCLIFFE Grade 6 - Desert Willow Family School in Albuquerque Teacher: Molly Sternat |
BEST ESSAY, GRADES 9-10
NAVEDITHA BALA Grade 10 - Mandela International Magnet School in Santa Fe Teacher: Courtney Lawton |
BEST ESSAY, GRADES 11-12
JESSE SMITH Grade 11 - Albuquerque Academy Teacher: Leslie Kim |
2019 ALDO LEOPOLD WRITING CONTEST
Aldo Leopold is most widely known as the author of A Sand County Almanac. Published in 1949, the book is a classic in Western literature. Leopold believed our idea of “community” should be enlarged to include non-human elements such as soils, waters, plants, animals, “or collectively: the land.” Leopold believed our economic wellbeing could not be separated from the wellbeing of our environment. His land ethic asserts: “A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.”
Aldo Leopold’s land ethic developed from his years of reflection about both his personal relationship to the natural environment as well as society’s interactions with nature. Here in the arid Southwest, water plays a vital role in both ecosystems and economies. People use water as a resource for consumption, growing food, raising livestock, industry, and recreation. Yet, healthy ecosystems also depend on clean, flowing rivers, replenishment of groundwater, thriving lakes and ponds, and healthy oceans.
WRITE YOUR OWN WATER ETHIC THAT DESCRIBES OR CAPTURES HOW YOU THINK PEOPLE SHOULD RELATE TO WATER RESOURCES ON OUR PLANET.
Aldo Leopold’s land ethic developed from his years of reflection about both his personal relationship to the natural environment as well as society’s interactions with nature. Here in the arid Southwest, water plays a vital role in both ecosystems and economies. People use water as a resource for consumption, growing food, raising livestock, industry, and recreation. Yet, healthy ecosystems also depend on clean, flowing rivers, replenishment of groundwater, thriving lakes and ponds, and healthy oceans.
WRITE YOUR OWN WATER ETHIC THAT DESCRIBES OR CAPTURES HOW YOU THINK PEOPLE SHOULD RELATE TO WATER RESOURCES ON OUR PLANET.
