 A Pause for Breath
“There is an allegory for historians in the diverse functions of saw, wedge, and axe.”
Aldo Leopold, “Good Oak,” A Sand County Almanac
One person can wield an axe and wedge all by themselves, and this is a critical part of making firewood.
However, as the name implies, a two-person cross cut saw calls for two people. Not just any two people, but two people who can adapt their own inherent paces to find a shared rhythm. It’s this rhythm that allows them to multiply their strength and stamina and get a job done together rather than simply wearing each other out. By adding the Chief Sawyer (who few may know is actually Aldo Leopold’s wife Estella), a voice of concern and perspective is added. Before the sawyers can get worn out—Rest! cries the chief sawyer, and we pause for breath.
Some of you will undoubtedly be questioning our sanity as you hold in your hands a new printed publication, increasingly an artifact seemingly as old as the Good Oak itself. What is the Aldo Leopold Foundation doing going to a longer print piece during this irreversible transition to the digital age? Haven’t they heard of websites, list serves, blogs, e-publishing?
Yes, we have and all of these are becoming central to our larger communications strategy. But the types of issues we are facing today require more intense concentration, prolonged dialogue, and greater critical thought, not less. In order to have real progress towards the hazy goal of sustainability—rather than just wearing each other out in a frenzied attempt to “just do something”—we need to find a rhythm that magnifies our strength and bolsters our stamina.
Perhaps in a decade we will all be accustomed to reading and interacting with digital media, but right now, I for one am not there. These approaches to communication are not mutually exclusive—used together, we can build a more substantial relationship than we might with either medium alone.
By combining regular digital updates with a twice annual magazine we can deepen the content, maintain the frequency of communication, and begin to provide a better forum for interchange, all for the same cost.
Besides, we need to periodically “pause for breath.”
“Okay, fine, but how will this publication be any different than the many others that exist?” you might ask. In truth, some of it won’t be that different, but so many people—from hunter to vegan—are connected through an affection for Leopold’s words, works, and ideas that we feel both an obligation and an opportunity to help the metaphorical well spring for this affection continue to flow.
Over the long haul, this publication will strengthen our shared ecological conscience by revealing the depth and breadth of Aldo Leopold’s life, work, and insights. Some of it will be from an historical perspective, exemplified in this issue by presenting “A Biotic View of Land,” and by using the extensive Leopold archives. Perhaps more importantly, it will share insights from our contemporaries who are striving to show how we can develop what Leopold called “an intense consciousness of land.” ALF’s own voices, such as Steve Swenson and Stan Temple, contribute to a conversation in these pages that will continue to include other prominent writers, educators, scientists, and leaders, such as David Orr who in this issue shares a vision of “Optimism and Hope in a Hotter Time.”
“Rest! cries the chief sawyer, and we pause for breath.”
We ask you now to “pause for breath.” We hope that this issue helps you think deeply about your relationship to the land and your relationships with friends, relatives, and neighbors.
Please share this publication with someone close to you. We hope the range of articles here will create opportunities to discuss what matters most to you—or why any of this matters at all. It’s not often we have a chance to reaffirm our connections to the land, and to explore what we could do individually and in partnerships to conserve the health of the land that sustains us all.
Then, start sawing again!
Buddy Huffaker
Executive Director
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