Primary source review - Essay Example

The Author of this book uses the work of Leopold to support his argument about the relationship between human beings and the environment. The article by Leopold Thinking like a mountain is an old piece that was written back mid-20th century. The article presents the environmental balance that existed during this time of the historical period. As Leopold states, this was a time when the American deer population was over a hundred thousand. The article therefore provides a point with which to compare the status quo in the early 1950s with the current situation in America.

This was a time when the society was more concerned with the environment and the people depended on it for survival. He makes a reference to the years of 1920s when the wolves had been removed from the mountains and the population of the deer had exploded. In his view, the natural ecosystem has a way of maintaining balance in a natural way without the control of human beings. This is an idea that many others in the contemporary society have to support. Schmitz (61) is one of the authors that have reflected on the concept of natural balance in the ecosystem1.

He states that when predators in a given natural ecosystem are eliminated there is likelihood that the population of the preys will grow uncontrollably. By subscribing to this idea, Schmitz seems to provide the same reason that Leopold provided as the reason why the population of deer had exploded on the mountain in America. The two authors seem to refer to the conservation strategies today that concentrate on eliminating the natural balance in ecosystem. Another major concern of this article is the role of the community with the ecosystem.

In his idea about the concept of the community he terms brings out the idea that human beings are central to the ecosystem and their role is to promote an interdependent relationship with the ecosystem. However, he poses the idea that human beings despite their academic progress